Indians Drop Doubleheader at No. 3 Pearl River

POPLARVILLE, Miss. - The Indians could not overcome Pearl River's early pressure, as the No. 3 Wildcats used crooked numbers in both games to complete a conference doubleheader sweep.

Game 1: No. 3 Wildcats 10, Indians 0 (7 innings)

ICC stayed within reach early, but PRCC broke the opener open in the middle innings and never gave the Indians a chance to recover.

The Wildcats broke through in the third. A two-run double got PRCC rolling, then a hit batter forced in another run before a sacrifice fly made it 4-0. An inning later, they added two more on a home run to left.

That was more than enough room for the Wildcats, who finished the opener with another loud swing in the sixth when a grand slam to right put the game out of reach.

ICC could not string together the inning it needed to answer. Cannon Graham, Reid Kent, Daniel Whitfield and Tre Gunn each collected a hit, but the Indians never found the timely swing to cut into the lead.

"I think the scores from today probably don't reflect some of our performances, but that's part of playing a really good team, and that is a really good team they have over there," head coach Slater Lott said.

Game 2: No. 3 Wildcats 11, Indians 3

ICC got hit early in the second game and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to climb back into it.

PRCC wasted no time taking control, blasting a three-run home run in the first before adding another run on an RBI single to move in front 4-0. The biggest blow came in the third. The Wildcats scored six times in the inning, using a hit batter and a bases-loaded walk before a grand slam to left pushed the lead to 10-0.

The Indians finally answered in the fifth.

With traffic on the bases, Gunn ripped a hard ground-ball single to left that brought home Kent and Brody Thompson, trimming the deficit to 10-2. Later in the inning, Will Caviness grounded out to bring home Madden Butler and make it 10-3. It was ICC's best push of the day, but PRCC answered with a solo home run in the sixth to halt any thought of a late rally.

Butler led ICC at the plate in the nightcap, going 2-for-4.

For Lott, the second game followed the same theme as the opener. A few mishandled moments turned costly against a team built to capitalize, while the Indians could not come up with the big hit when opportunities showed up.

"I think we mishandled a couple of moments and they made us pay," Lott said. "On the flipside, whenever we had our traffic on the bases, we couldn't get our big hit. That's how baseball goes, and we'll bounce back."

Up next, ICC returns home Wednesday to host Coahoma in a doubleheader, with Game 1 scheduled to start at 2 p.m. The games will be available on LetsGoICCTV.com/red.

"We're going to be ready to play Wednesday," Lott said. "We're excited to see our guys play down the stretch."