ELLISVILLE – The #16 Northwest Mississippi Community College baseball (34-21, 18-10) team saw their postseason run come to a close on Thursday night against #8 Jones College (40-16, 18-10), falling to the Bobcats 10-6 in the Region 23 Championship at Community Bank Park.
Northwest was in a hole early in the game, but through it all, Head Coach Mark Carson, who wrapped up his 21st season at the helm of the program, said he never gave up the idea they could come back.
"I knew they would fight today," he said. "(Jones) had a couple of big hits in big moments and we couldn't quite shut them down, but we hung in there and had chances."
The Rangers fell behind early in the game, trailing 5-2 after three innings, after a pair of runs were brought home on an RBI single in the top of the first inning, a bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly in the second inning, and a solo home run in the third inning.
Northwest did have two answers in the bottom of the second and third, with Preston Johnson bringing home Mason McMillin in the second on an RBI groundout and a McMillin single in the bottom of the third plating Mason Gillentine to provide some resistance to the Bobcats starter Brayson Graham.
Unfortunately for the Rangers, that would set the tone for the rest of the game, with them continually playing catch-up to the Bobcats.
In the fifth inning, Jones would stack three more runs onto their lead on a bases-clearing double, but the Rangers answered with a Hallas Lawson sacrifice fly that scored Gillentine for a second time, and a South McCoy homerun to keep the game close at 8-4.
The sixth inning saw another two runs from the Bobcats on another double with a pair of runners on, but Northwest once again answered, this time with a John Whit Snopek blast to left field that scored Preston Johnson to make it 10-6.
From there, the game turned into a battle of the pitching staffs, as Northwest would go through four relievers behind Tyce Powers, and the Bobcats turned to the tandem of Trevor Hodges and Canyon Reeves to close the door. Neither team would score in the game after the sixth inning, although the Rangers did have chances with runners on in the seventh and the ninth innings.
"I told them it's going to sting," Carson said. "You never set out to win a silver medal. You always try to win a gold, and they came up one game short of that, so I'm proud of them and what they did for this school."
The loss went to Powers, who finished the season with a 5-3 record. He was pulled in the top of the third inning, giving way to Tyler Sullivan, who pitched three innings in relief, giving up three runs on five hits, but striking out four. After a quick appearance from Derrin Randle, Johnson would come in to work three innings as well, striking out four and only allowing a single run. McCoy would close the book for the Rangers staff in the top of the ninth, working a clean 1-2-3 inning on only six pitches.
Northwest finishes the year with a 34-21 record, which is their third 30-win season in a row and the third most wins in the coaching career for Carson, trailing only the 37-win team from 2024 and the 40-win team from 2007.
"What a phenomenal year," Carson said. "It was a phenomenal bunch of guys, and I told them before the game tonight that if I ever doubted them, it didn't stay long because they always proved to me they would come back and fight. They are one of my favorite groups, mainly because it's a bunch of warriors who play hard and play the game the right way. They are good students and good people, and that makes all the difference in the world."
Keep up with offseason news about the Northwest baseball team by following along at nwccrangers.com, or by following Ranger social media accounts.
