Blue Devils beat North Pike 12-7 to advance to South State
Carriere--Pearl River Central has been a tough out for their opponents in Game 3 situations over the years and once again the Blue Devils were able to win the decisive game with a 12-7 win over the North Pike Jaguars at Carriere.
The win moves their overall record to 23-11 and puts PRC in the South State Championship series against West Jones.
Mason Treat with one of his four hits in Game 3
North Pike jumped on 2-0 in the top of the first scoring two unearned runs, but PRC answered quickly in the bottom of the first.
With one out, the Blue Devils got a single from Mason Treat, Ethan Songy was hit by a pitch, Caiden Shoemake singled, and Robert Shoemake was hit by a pitch (forced Treat in for first run). Nolan Walther’s ground out brought in Songy and Cameron Brunson reached on an infield single up the middle that allowed both Caiden and Robert Shoemake to score to make it 4-2.
North Pike scored an unearned run in the second and PRC answered that with a run of their own in bottom of the inning to make 5-3.
North Pike scored a run in the top of the third inning and loaded the bases with one out. The Blue Devils turned a 6-4-3 double play (Treat to Walther to Austin Dean) to end the frame.
A rain delay of approximately 30 minutes halted the game in the top of the fourth with one out after a strike out.
When play resumed, Austin Diebold completed the inning by striking out the next two Jaguar batters.
Austin Diebold (9) during his windup in the third inning in Game 3
The Blue Devils blew the game open in the bottom of the inning sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring five runs.
Austin Dean singled and gave way to pinch runner Hunter Brunson. Hayden Dunhurst doubled and Treat followed that with a single to bring in the two runners to make it 7-4. Songy singled to put runners at the corners. After a PRC strikeout, Treat scored on a Robert Shoemake ground ball mishandled by the Jaguar shortstop and Songy advanced to second base. Nolan Walther singled to bring Songy in and Shoemake moved up to second base. Cameron Brunson’s grounder took a bad hop and went over the shortstop’s glove and that allowed Shoemake to score to make it 10-4.
North Pike got a single run in the fifth inning and added two more in the top of the seventh on a two run home run. PRC scored their other two runs in the fifth. Austin Diebold pitched 6.2 innings striking out 8 batters, gave up 7 hits, and walked 3 batters. Nolan Walther got the final two outs on fly ball outs.
Hunter Brunson (14) takes a lead at third base as Mason Treat bats.
Mason Treat had four hits and Caiden Shoemake had three hits for the Blue Devils.
The series against West Jones is set for Thursday (at West Jones), Friday (at PRC), and the third game if needed, is scheduled for Saturday (at West Jones).
