RAYMOND — With its No. 1 ranking in the NJCAA Division II poll, Hinds Community College is regarded as the best junior college team in the country.

And that was before its hitters started sending baseballs over the fence like swarms of mosquitos on a warm summer night.

The Eagles belted four home runs in a doubleheader split with Holmes Community College on Thursday, giving them nine in their last four games.

Tyler Cox had two, including a grand slam, as Hinds crushed Holmes 15-1 in game one. Former Warren Central star Hunter Austin hit a two-run shot in game two, but the Eagles lost for just the second time this season, 7-6.

“We hit right at 50 home runs last year. This year, we’ve been hitting for a higher average as a team, but haven’t been hitting as many home runs. It doesn’t really matter to me, as long as we’re getting on base and scoring runs and getting RBIs,” Hinds coach Sam Temple said. “This team is capable of putting up some big power numbers. I think the best way to say it is, it’s starting to warm up.”

The doubleheader split seemed a bit appropriate for Hinds (25-2) on a day where even its lopsided victory had a Jekyll and Hyde feel to it.

The Eagles jumped out to a 5-0 lead in game one behind a three-run homer by Marshall Boggs in the first inning and a solo shot by Cox in the second. Both home runs clanged off the back side of the roof of the batting cage beyond the left field fence.

There was also some stagnation, though. The Eagles struck out six times in the first five innings, hit into a double play, and left the bases loaded once.

Most of those sins were forgiven by a big sixth inning in which Hinds batted around and scored nine runs to blow the game open.

Cox’s grand slam made it 12-1. Chase Lunceford just missed another grand slam when his bases-clearing double hit off the top of the right field fence.

Lunceford, who had three home runs in a win over Pearl River on Monday, finished the game 3-for-4 with four RBIs. Matt Jones was also 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, and eight of Hinds’ nine starters had at least one hit. The Eagles had 17 hits in all.

Lunceford and Cox also had an RBI single apiece in the game two loss.

“In baseball, there’s a lot of give and take, and everybody in our league is good. A nine-inning ballgame is a bunch of innings sometimes and you just have to wait for it to open up,” Temple said. “One thing we talk about is letting our hitters go through the lineup one time. After that, we start making some adjustments and locking in on what we need to get after. I saw that tonight.”