On the Net (video):
Highlights and video interviews from Friday's game one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhBuxWpFTdI
Booneville, Miss. – Riley Alef's arm proved to be a powerful weapon for the Northeast Mississippi Community College baseball team on Friday afternoon.
Against perhaps the quickest squad in the Magnolia State, Alef caught three runners stealing to squash multiple Pearl River Community College rallies in a 9-8 victory by the Tigers in the first round of the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) State Playoffs.
Northeast leads the best-of-three series 1-0. Game two is scheduled for noon on Saturday with a third meeting to follow at approximately 3 p.m., if necessary, at Harold T. White Field.
The Wildcats entered the postseason with 129 stolen bases as a team, which was the fifth best total in the country and also tops in the conference.
But Alef kept Pearl River in check and took the Tigers' guests out of their rhythm. The Wildcats found success on their initial two attempts, but were gunned down by the sophomore from New Albany in three successive tries.
Alef continues to lead the league and is now fifth among all athletes in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) with 18 runners caught stealing.
"I give the credit to my pitchers for getting me the ball fast," said Alef. "Then I put it on the money."
Alef nailed two of his victims in the same inning during the second. Courtesy runner Jacob Taylor took second base safely after Kreg Garner reached on an error.
Taylor, though, did not garner the same prosperity moments later and was thrown out by Alef on an attempt to progress another 90 feet. Adam Smith also suffered the same fate for the third out of the frame after trying to advance to second.
Northeast used that momentum to grab a 1-0 lead in the bottom half. Luke Stanley put a groundball in play that was mishandled by the shortstop to allow courtesy runner Colby Williams to score.
Pearl River promptly knotted the contest at 1-1 in the third on Tracy Hadley's double over Jack Hurdle's head in right field. However, Hurdle got the ball in quickly to Trent Turner, who made a strong relay throw to get Lamar Anthony out at the plate following a nice tag by Alef.
The Wildcats manufactured their inaugural lead of the series during their next at bat. Garner doubled and Taylor, again courtesy running, moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring on Jalen Haskin's grounder.
Small ball again aided Pearl River in extending its advantage to 4-1 in the fifth. Kyle Dolan and Darien Brown took back-to-back walks to start the frame before coming home on a wild pitch and groundout, respectively.
Jake Brumfield, the Wildcats' starting pitcher, baffled the Tigers for five innings with four strikeouts and only two Turner singles conceded. But Northeast figured out the right-hander in the sixth.
Hurdle got the resurgence underway with a towering opposite field home run. The solo shot that landed near the right field foul pole served as the second long ball of the campaign for the Byhalia native and cut the Tigers' deficit to 4-2.
Singles by Luke Stanley and Heath Wood plus a walk to Jordan Mongtomery loaded the bases with only one out. Easton Hall then hit a chopper that was misplayed by the second baseman to tie the matchup at 4-4.
Turner made the score 5-4 in favor of Northeast (26-17) one batter later when he legged out a fielder's choice to plate Wood.
The last two frames turned into a tense back-and-forth contest. Pearl River drew even with the Tigers in the eighth when Derrick Mount touched home plate on Haskin's RBI single.
After Wildcat reliever Colton Lee sat Northeast down in order during the bottom half, Pearl River (26-21) seemingly put the game out of reach for the home standing Tigers in the ninth.
Three walks and two hit batsmen against a trio Northeast hurlers forced a pair of runs to score. The Wildcats capped the inning and upped their advantage to 8-5 when Mount raced home on a fielding miscue.
But the Tigers profited from free passes themselves in the latter half of the ninth to begin a huge come-from-behind effort. Turner was plunked and Alef watched four pitches in a row to load the bases following Hall's infield single that led off the frame.
Ben Foster edged Northeast within 8-6 with a single to the left side. Josh Peterson and Hurdle then worked their counts full before taking RBI walks to put the matchup in a stalemate.
Stanley wasted little time in delivering the walkoff. The Lafayette County High School product connected on Taylor's first offering and lifted it to straightaway centerfield for a sacrifice fly that plated Foster to complete the comeback and clinch the victory for the Tigers.
"I was just hoping that he would throw one over the plate so I could hit it," said Stanley. "I looked down there at coach (Richy Harrelson) and he gave me a thumbs up so I was ready to swing."
Taylor (1-1) took the loss for Pearl River. He tossed 0.1 innings and gave up two earned runs on three walks and one hit.
Hunt Halford (3-1) was one of seven arms that Northeast used during the opener of the series. Halford notched the last out of the ninth to earn the win out of the bullpen.
"I just tried to come in and throw strikes to try to get out of that inning with as little damage as possible," Halford said. "I was pretty down when we got in the dugout, but the first guy got on and picked everybody back up. We always had a chance."
Landon Boyd and Dustin Allen both had solid relief outings for the Tigers. New Hope's Boyd and Allen, a Tishomingo County High School graduate, combined to toss 3.2 innings of hitless baseball.
Turner had two of Northeast's eight base knocks on the day. Wood's single in the fifth was the 95th hit of his prestigious career as a Tiger.
"I was real pleased that we came back and won the ballgame," said Northeast head coach Kent Farris. "Our kids were patient and stuck with it and it paid off in the end.
"Baseball is a game of adversity and how you respond to that is going to often tell the outcome of the game. I thought our kids did some good things in responding to that."