ELLISVILLE – Third-ranked Jones County used seven strong innings from Cooper Brune in the opener and took advantage of seven costly Ranger walks in the nightcap to sweep Northwest by 6-1 and 7-5 finals Saturday afternoon at Community Bank Park.
Northwest fell to 12-8 overall and 2-4 in the MACJC, while JCJC improved to 17-5 and 4-2 in conference play.
The Rangers will continue a grueling 12-game road swing on Tuesday, March 27 at Holmes. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. on
holmesccmedia.com.
Game 1 – #3 JCJC 6, Northwest 1
The top of the Bobcat lineup was 8-for-12 with five RBIs and Cooper Brune allowed just two hits in seven innings as JCJC picked up a 6-1 victory in the opener.
A three-run bottom of the first, behind a two-run double by Jake Mason and RBI-single from Brandon Hale, was all the run support Brune would need. Mason added an RBI-single in the second.
Kyle Moore settled in for Northwest and hung zeroes in three straight frames to keep it a 4-0 JCJC lead into the sixth.
Luther Woullard's two-run double to right-center made it 6-0 in the sixth as
Daniel Shelton came on to relieve Moore.
Northwest's lone threat of the game came in its final at-bat, as they loaded the bases on a pair of walks and an error.
Tanner Booth's RBI-single to score
Brant Blaylock was all the Rangers could manage, however, in a 6-1 loss.
Shelton tossed two shutout innings in relief of Moore, who fell to 1-1, after allowing six earned runs on 11 hits with five strikeouts and a walk.
JCJC had 12 hits in the win, against three for Northwest by
Tanner Leggett, Blaylock and Booth.
Game 2 – #3 JCJC 7, Northwest 5
Northwest jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third behind RBI-singles from
Hunter White,
Hayden Leatherwood and Blaylock, but couldn't hang on after Jones rallied for six in the third to eventually earn a 7-5 victory for the sweep.
Ian Hawkins threw up back-to-back zeroes to start the game before running into trouble in the third. Hawkins allowed a double, triple and two walks
– six free passes in 2.2 innings total
– before being pulled for
Nathan Harrison who also had control issues. Harrison walked Stephen Matthews to load the bases, and after an error by Harrison on a one-hopper back to the mound, R.J. Brown followed with a single to plate two to turn a 4-0 Ranger lead into a 6-4 deficit.
Northwest could never recover after that and was held to two hits the final four innings by Jay Simpson and Will Freeman.
Hudson's RBI-single in the fourth made it 7-4 Jones after four.
Hunter White walked to start the seventh and eventually came around to score after a stolen base and wild pitch, but that's as close as the Rangers would get.
Northwest out-hit Jones 7-5 in the nightcap but gifted the Bobcats seven walks that led to four of their seven runs.
Dakota Dailey and Blaylock had two hits apiece for the Rangers.
