The Hinds Community College baseball team had hit a bit of an offensive dry spell heading into the first round of the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) playoffs, but the Eagles broke out in a big way, scoring 25 runs in a two-game sweep of Northwest Community College to advance to the MACJC state tournament.

The state tournament will run from Thursday-Saturday and will be hosted by Itawamba Community College in Fulton. Hinds will open play on Thursday at 2 p.m. when the Eagles will take on Jones County Junior College. To view the complete bracket click here.

Hinds (31-16) won game one of the best two-of-three series on Friday night, defeating the Rangers, 14-5, and won the second game of the series on Saturday, 11-7, in 10 innings.
Alex Gunn (Clinton) got the win on the mound in the opening game to improve to 4-2 on the season. The sophomore lefty threw seven innings, striking out six and allowing only four earned runs.

The Hinds offense, which finished game one with 15 hits, picked up home runs from Justin Smith (Florence), Beau Wallace (Vicksburg) and Chris Jones (Mendenhall).

Smith had a monster day, finishing 3-5 with three RBI and two runs scored to lead the Eagles. Akiko Thompson (Clinton) also had three hits, going 3-6 with two runs scored and one RBI on the day.

On Saturday, the bats picked up where they left off from the night before, as the Eagles finished with 16 hits in game two.

Wallace paced Hinds, going 4-6 with three runs scored and one RBI.

Jones, who homered again on Saturday to move into a tie for the team lead with five, went 3-6 with four RBI and two runs scored, while Smith picked up three more hits to help power the attack.

Jake Chambliss (Gulfport) picked up his first win of the year in relief, throwing the final five outs and striking out two after inheriting a baserunner in the bottom of the ninth inning and one out in a tie ball game.

He was able to get out of the sticky situation in the ninth, and the Eagles plated four runs in the 10^th to give him plenty of cushion heading into the bottom half of the 10^th inning, where he was able to throw a scoreless frame.

Carey Taylor (Brandon), who picked up the no decision on the mound, threw six innings and allowed only one run after the first inning, in which he allowed three runs. The sophomore righty settled down and let the Eagles offense claw their way back and give him a lead before he exited.