By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

CARRIERE — Pearl River Central will be the largest school in the “Southern Six” to wrap up the region portion of its regular season slate this week.

The Blue Devils face off with Hattiesburg in a key Region 3-6A match-up beginning Tuesday night at home. All 16 other squads in Class 5A-7A won’t end their league schedule until next week.

PRC stands alone in first place in Region 3-6A after taking two out of three games from West Jones last week. The Blue Devils dropped game one in SoSo 4-3, before bouncing back with a 2-1 win in 11 innings at home in game two followed by a 4-1 win on the road in the series finale.

In game two on Thursday, PRC’s starting pitcher Ayden Radosta hurled 10 solid innings on the hill only to come away without a decision as he struck out six and allowed seven hits.

After Evan Mayor, Jr., relieved Radosta and got through the top of the 11th, Parker Harper’s RBI-single with two outs in the bottom of the frame ended the contest. The game-winning, walk-off hit scored Landyn Wilson, who singled to lead off the final frame.

Harper had two hits, including a triple, to pace PRC at the plate, while Kendall Morrison added a double.

Then, in the rubber match back in Jones County Friday night, the Blue Devils took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third on RBI-singles by both Morrison and J.J. Morreale, and then Mayor drove in a run in the sixth and another run scored on a Mustang fielding error.

Morreale worked a little over three frames on the mound to get the win, while Konnor Cazenave finished up the game to earn a save.

Morreale had two hits offensively for PRC.

The Blue Devils sit atop the region race at 5-1, while West Jones sits in second at 4-2 and Hattiesburg is 3-3 and in third with Terry in the cellar at 0-6. All four teams have already qualified for the upcoming Class 6A South State playoffs.

PRC can clinch the top spot in the region for the second straight season with two wins against Hattiesburg this week.