The Brookhaven Panthers hosted the Pearl River Central Blue Devils Wednesday night for a huge Region 6-5A baseball test for first place at Moyer Field.

Pearl River Central ended up dominating Brookhaven both offensively and defensively to claim to a 20-1 victory over the Panthers and win the division crown.

“Everything that Pearl River Central hit found a open spot in the field,” said BHS coach Randy Spring. “We had our chances early in the game to make it interesting, but we could not capitalize at the plate. The Blue Devils came out and hit the ball really well and I would like to congratulate to them for winning the division.”

The Panthers (6-11, 5-2) are scheduled to make a trip to Carriere Friday to take on the Blue Devils once again, if weather permits. Junior varsity action begins at 5 p.m., followed by the varsity contest at 7 p.m.

Brookhaven is also scheduled to be in action Saturday as they host the Petal Panthers at 12 p.m. for the JV game and 2 p.m. for the varsity game. Then host West Lincoln for a varsity contest only at 4:30 p.m.

Pearl River Central 20, Brookhaven 1 

In Wednesday contest, the Panthers and the Blue Devils elected to play the varsity game first to beat the weather as PRC came out and quickly set the tone of the contest in top of the first inning as they grabbed a 2-0 lead.

The Blue Devil’s defense and strong pitching managed to keep the Panthers offense off balance through the first three innings of action as PRC continued to increase their lead to 8-0.

In the top of the fourth inning, the Blue Devils exploded with a 12-run surge to put the game out of reach and secure a 20-0 advantage over the Panthers.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Brookhaven managed to break up PRC’s shut out as they pushed across one run before falling in five innings of action.

Cody Miller was the winning pitcher for the Blue Devils with two strikeouts and no walks. Rigel Robinson (2K, 0BB) pitched the final two innings for PRC.

Brookhaven’s only senior Scotty Bateman suffered the setback on the mound with three strikeouts and no walks. Penn Wilson (1K, 1BB), Reese Reynaud (0K, 0BB), Dalton Fortado (0K, 1BB) and Tyler Mixon (0K, 0BB) all saw action on the mound in relief for the Panthers.

Brandon Henyard and Penn Wilson were the top hitters for the Panthers at the plate with two singles apiece. Darrian Wilson had a single.

Anthony Hickman powered the Blue Devils offensive surge with four doubles. Wes Mitchell continued to fuel the flames with a triple and a single. Casey Penton provided a triple. Zach Evans and Nick Newman contributed a double each. Jeshua Lee ripped two singles. Hitting safely were Tristen Schlottman, Caleb Tynes, Mason Songy, Zach Rousell, Rigel Robinson and Cody Lee.