survive and advance

The obvious favorites in the MACJC Tournament, which starts Thursday in Ellisville, are 14th-ranked Jones County Junior College and Holmes CC. They were the division champions in the regular season. Jones has the edge of playing at home, in its sparkling new facility, Community Bank Park. But anything can happen in postseason baseball. Just look at what went down in the best-of-3 opening round series. Three of the four series went three games, including those involving Jones and Holmes. Jones won the rubber game of its series with East Mississippi when it erupted for four runs in the fifth inning — Chad Guice had a clutch two-run double — to pull away for a 10-4 victory. Holmes had to win twice on Saturday to survive its series with Pearl River. Strong pitching from Taylor Burrell (five shutout innings) and Rafiel Johnson (now 8-2 after winning the clincher) and a pair of home runs by Reggie O'Briant in the decisive game helped the Bulldogs pull it off. Northwest Mississippi also had to win twice Saturday to top East Central. The Rangers cranked up the offense, scoring 20 runs on 26 hits on the day. The biggest blow was a grand slam by Drew Griffin that capped a decisive five-run fifth inning in a 10-5 victory in the rubber game. Gulf Coast got past Itawamba in two games but needed a two-out error in the bottom of the ninth of the second game to make it happen. Gulf Coast plays Holmes and Northwest meets Jones in Thursday's opening round. The double-elimination tournament should be a doozy.
P.S. Belhaven has to feel like it got shafted when the NAIA sent the Blazers — champions of the mighty Southern States Athletic Conference — to Oklahoma City for its regional. William Carey has to feel blessed to get into the regional in Daytona Beach, Fla. The Crusaders scrambled late just to make the SSAC Tournament, then reached the title game. The worst feeling right now belongs to Delta State, which went down in three games in the Gulf South Conference Tournament. The Statesmen, who have missed the NCAA Division II postseason the last two years, are anxiously awaiting the release on Wednesday of the new South Region poll. If they fall out of the top eight, which is a real possibility, they'll likely be left out again when the regional fields are announced on Sunday.