ELLISVILLE – The Jones County Junior College Bobcats will continue their quest for a state baseball championship this week.

In game one of the MACJC Tournament, the Bobcats will take on surprising Holmes Community College at 3 p.m. on Thursday at Joe G. Moss Field on the campus of Hinds Community College in Raymond. Game two of the tournament will find the host Eagles facing the Itawamba Community College Indians at 6 p.m.

All of the games involving JCJC in the tournament will be audiostreamed on www.jcjc.edu with Lance Pittman handling the play-by-play.

The double-elimination tournament will continue through Saturday with the top three teams advancing to the Region 23 Tournament, which is scheduled for May 14-16 at top-ranked and defending NJCAA Division II World Series champion LSU-Eunice.

Under the direction of first-year head coach Christian Ostrander, the Bobcats have compiled a 36-14 record, which is a school record for victories. JCJC, which finished third in the South Division, defeated Northeast Mississippi Community College, 10-1 and 6-4, to claim the opening round best-of-three series and advance to the state tournament.

Meanwhile, Holmes – the No. 4 team from the North – went down to Perkinston and stunned the South regular season champion, Gulf Coast. Gulf Coast won the opener, 9-1, on Friday, but Holmes bounced back to beat the hosts twice on Saturday, 9-4 and 4-2, to win the series and reach the state tournament. Holmes is 28-21 on the season.

On the other side of the bracket, the host Eagles swept Northwest, 9-4 and 10-9, to claim that series. Hinds owns a 33-15 mark. Itawamba had to battle back to win its playoff series vs. Pearl River. The Indians lost the opener, 7-3, but then rebounded to sweep the Wildcats on Monday, 10-0 and 4-1.ICC owns a 40-11 record and is ranked No. 4 in the nation.

Thursday’s losers will meet at noon on Friday, while the winners will play at 3 p.m.


MACJC Tournament
At Hinds Community College
Raymond

Thursday’s games
Game 1, JCJC (36-14) vs. Holmes (28-21), 3 p.m.
Game 2, Itawamba (40-11) vs. Hinds (33-15), 6 p.m.

Friday’s games
Game 3, Loser 1 vs. Loser 2, noon
Game 4, Winner 1 vs. Winner 2, 3 p.m.
Game 5, Winner 3 vs. Loser 4, 6 p.m.

Saturday’s games
Game 6, Championship, Winner 4 vs. Winner 5, 1 p.m.
Game 7, if necessary, 30 minutes after Game 6