by Southwest Mississippi Community College Sports Information

POPLARVILLE — Despite putting up a fight and finding some success with the bats, struggles
on the mound and inconsistency proved to be too much for the Bears to overcome Thursday as
they fell to the host No. 3 Pearl River Wildcats 23-1 in Game 1 of the best-of-three Region 23
play-in series.

“I thought that we swung the bats well and I thought that we did well against a good arm but we
didn’t give ourselves a chance on the mound to win a baseball game today,” Southwest head
coach Jack Edmonson said.
The Bears (23-27) struggled to find the right formula on the mound to slow the Wildcats down as
six pitchers logged time for Southwest in the loss.

Both Southwest starter Brycen Smith and Pearl River starter Luke Lyon got off to strong starts,
allowing no blemishes in the first inning.

In the second, the Wildcats got two hits, coupled with a walk to load the bases before a single, a
ground out and a passed ball during three-consecutive at bats plated four runs, putting the Bears
down 4-0.

Southwest threatened in the third as it too loaded the bases, but unfortunately, the Bears were
unable to score.

The following inning, Pearl River rallied, plating 10 additional runs making it a 14-0 deficit for
Southwest.

The Bears put together a rally of their own in the fourth as Colson Thompson reaching via an
error was accompanied by singles from Christian Kell, Brett Boutwell and Tyler Otts with the
latter’s scoring a run making the score 14-1. The momentum, unfortunately, ended as a strikeout
was followed by a double-play, ending the inning.

The hosts answered Southwest’s rally with an additional nine runs in the bottom half of the
fourth.

Southwest put one on base in the fifth as Mattew Latino singled, but the following batter
grounded out marking the third out and sealing the win for Pearl River.

Kell led the Bears with two hits and a run scored.
Game 2 is scheduled to get underway Friday at 4 p.m. in Poplarville.
"Tomorrow is a new day and it is like I told our guys, we don't have to beat them twice, we just
have to win one game tomorrow and then we will go at them on Saturday," Edmonson said. "I
think that our guys want another shot and they know that they are better than what we played
today and luckily we are better than what we played today."