Skip To Main Content

Southwest Mississippi Community College

Scoreboard

Zach Rowell fires a pitch to the plate

Baseball Michael D. Gunnell, Southwest Sports Information

Southwest splits with #16 Jones County

Another quality pitching performance by sophomore starter Zach Rowell, combined with a perfect seventh inning by reliever Tyler Kendrick, allowed the visiting Southwest Bears to take a 5-4 victory over 16th ranked Jones County in the opener of their South Division doubleheader Saturday. Jones County came back to achieve a split on the day with an 8-2 victory in the nightcap.
 
Rowell scattered six hits over six innings in the opener, giving up four runs while striking out three and walking three to run his record to 3-2 on the season. Kendrick then came on and picked up the save with a 5-4-3 double play and a pitcher-to-first ground out.
 
 The Bears (12-18, 5-5) fell behind early in the game as Jones County (20-10, 8-2) scored three runs in their half of the first inning. Southwest made it 3-2 in the top of the third when Chance Schmidt led off with a single and scored on Johnny McKenzie’s triple to right field. German Hays then singled to plate McKenzie.
 
Southwest scored three runs in the top of the sixth take a 5-2 lead. Advancing from first base to third on an Aaron Moore double, courtesy runner Chris Gill scored on Connor Goodspeed’s single. Moore later scored when Alex Marshall reached base on a fielder’s choice. Goodspeed advanced to third on the play and scored as the Bobcats tried to turn a double play.
 
Two hit batters and a double allowed Jones County to close the gap to one in the bottom of the sixth, but the Bobcats were unable to come any closer.
 
McKenzie and Moore both added a single in the game while Kade Scivicque and Darron McKigney also hit safely.
The Bears took a 2-0 lead after two innings in the finale. McKenzie led off the game with a single, reached third on a Bobcat error and scored on Hays’ single. Luke Gipson led off the second Southwest inning with a single and later scored on McKenzie’s two-out base hit.
 
Jones County tied the game with solo runs in the third and fourth innings. They then took the lead with two in the fifth and added four more in the sixth to close out the win.
 
Reliever Clint McDaniel, on in place of starter Trey Setzer, took the loss for Southwest, allowing three runs in one inning of work. Jody Lampton and Kendrick also saw time of the mound. Darron McKigney had two singles while Schmidt and Matthew Farrar also hit safely for the Bears.
 
Southwest returns to action on Tuesday as they complete the first half of the Division schedule with a 3:00 home doubleheader against the Pearl River Wildcats.
 
 
Print Friendly Version