RAYMOND - Hinds Community College baseball (12-8) moved to 5-1 in conference play after they swept the Saturday double-header against Itawamba Community College in Raymond.
 
For the second straight conference series, the Eagle bats scored at least 10 points in both games.

Head coach Dan Rives was proud of how his team dominated during the double-header.

"I am very pleased with how well we came out of the gate swinging the bats in both games," Rives said. "Holland was super in game one and Justin did very well in game two. We had some good relief work in the middle innings and Clayton (Thurman) was very good, as usual, to close it out in the second one. Other than the one inning that got away from us in game two, I thought we had a very dominant performance on the day." 
 
Game one
 
Itawamba struck first in the first inning on a solo homerun. Eagle pitcher and outfielder Justin Williams (Madison) immediately answered with a solo homerun of his own in the bottom half. Hinds would use that momentum from the solo shot to plate four more runs on a double by Clayton Thurman (Vicksburg) and two singles by Gavin Mink (Olive Branch) and Cole Smith (Florence).
 
Sophomore pitcher Holland Townes (Ridgeland) got the nod as the starter in game one and continued to dominate in his second win of the season. After the solo homerun in the first inning, Townes settled-in and breezed through the second inning.
 
In his second at bat in the second inning, Justin Williams went yard again for his second homerun of the game. His homerun, along with a no-doubt homerun by Josh Rodriguez (Belleville, NJ), gave the Eagles two more runs to take a 7-1 lead going into the third inning of play.
 
Having tremendous run-support, Townes continued to dazzle on the mound by putting up another scoreless frame in the third. The Eagles would give Townes more run support in the bottom of the third inning when they plated two more runs.
 
Both squads were held scoreless in the fourth inning. In the top half, Itawamba was held scoreless after the Eagles turned a double play to end the threat. This was Townes' third scoreless frame of the game.
 
Itawamba got a run back in the fifth and the Eagles scored one more in the sixth to take a 10-2 lead. Freshman Connor Nation (Madison) came in to relieve Townes and closed out the game in the seventh inning. Nation finished with one strikeout and two walks through one inning of relief. After exiting the game, Townes finished with eight strikeouts, two earned runs and five hits through six innings pitched.
 
Leading the charge at the plate was Williams, who went 3-4 with two homeruns and three RBI's. Cole Smith and Vantrel Reed (Vicksburg) contributed two hits and an RBI a piece. Gentry Tigrett (Brandon), Clayton Thurman, Gavin Mink and Josh Rodriguez all had one hit in the contest. Rodriguez's hit was a homerun that came in the second inning.
 
Game two
 
In game two of the double-header, the Eagles got off to the same start by plating seven runs in the first two innings.
 
After a quick first inning from starting pitcher Justin Williams, Reed Kellum (Jackson) got the party started with a two-run single in the bottom-half of the first, and the Eagles took a 2-0 lead going into the second.
 
Williams would not surrender a run in the second inning despite allowing a lead-off walk. The Eagles bats would keep up the good work in the bottom-half by plating five more runs to aid William's outing on the mound. Clayton Thurman led the inning off with a double, and Cole Smith would single him in. After a Connor Chisolm (Madison) walk, Williams would single him in. In a wild turn of events including multiple errors, Vantrel Reed would single and score Smith, Chisolm and Williams. Josh Rodriguez would then double in Reed for the final run of the inning, making the score 7-0 in favor of Hinds.
 
Itawamba would put their first run of the game on the board in the top of the third inning on an RBI single. The Indians held the Eagles scoreless in the bottom of the third.
 
In the fourth inning, Itawamba led off with a single. After Williams recorded a punch-out on the second batter, the Eagle infield turned a quick double-play to end the inning to send them back to the plate. In the bottom-half, the Eagles scored two runs on a Reed solo homerun and a wild pitch that scored Rodriguez.
 
Justin Williams exited in the top of the fifth inning after giving up five runs and gave the ball to Austin Fugler (Enterprise). Fugler allowed one run and gave way to Jake-Riley Gunn (Hattiesburg), who closed out the inning with no further damage. 
 
Gunn would continue pitching into the sixth inning where he recorded two outs on a double play. He would then give the ball to Clayton Thurman to close out the inning and game.
 
The Eagles put the nail in the coffin in the sixth inning by scoring one more run on a passed ball. Thurman would then close out the game in the top of the seventh to secure the 10-7 win and series sweep over the Indians.

At the plate, the Eagles were led by Vantrel Reed, who went 3-4 with one homerun and four RBI's. Josh Rodriguez would also have multiple hits, finishing 2-3 with a double and one RBI. Justin Williams, Clay Benson (Monroe, La.), Reed Kellum, Clayton Thurman and Cole Smith would all cash in one hit in game two. Kellum had two RBI's in the nightcap.
 
Up next

The Eagles will take on Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Wednesday, March 23 in Raymond. The first pitch of the double-header is slated for 3 p.m. at Joe G. Moss Field. Fans can purchase tickets ahead of time here. The livestream of the game will be available here.