RAYMOND — The ultimate goal for Hinds Community College’s talent-laden baseball team this season is winning the national championship that eluded it last year.

To get there, however, the Eagles had to win the state title first. They did that Saturday by scoring 10 runs in the sixth inning and beating Northwest Mississsippi 14-3 in the MACJC tournament championship game.

As they dogpiled on the infield, hugged and celebrated with family and friends, it was clear that getting this first trophy was more than just a steppingstone.

“Last year we were on the opposite end of this, so it feels pretty good. As sophomores, we had one goal, at least, to win state,” Hinds center fielder Quade Smith said. “We all came back in the fall and the first goal was to win the state championship. Be No. 1 in the state, and then regionals and everything else will just take care of itself.”

Smith was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored, and Casey Sutton threw 6 1/3 innings for Hinds (41-5), which won its eighth state championship overall and third in six seasons.

The next step is the Region XXIII tournament, which begins Thursday in Eunice, La. Hinds will enter it ranked No. 1 in the country and looking for a return trip to the NJCAA Division II World Series.

The Eagles, who have 13 Division I signees on the roster, finished the 2014 season as the national runner-up.

“Sometimes in coaching, you can dwell too much on the thing at the end and never get yourself there,” said Hinds coach Sam Temple, a Vicksburg native. “What we did at the start of the season was, we made this an emphasis. We made winning the state our first goal. We focused all our attention on this. Whatever comes after this, we’re prepared for. We’ve been through that fight before. But that tournament in Eunice is a really tough thing.”

Hinds also won the regular-season MACJC championship, and left little doubt in the tournament that it was indeed the best junior college team in Mississippi.

The Eagles won all three of their games and put an exclamation point on the weekend by ravaging Northwest’s depleted pitching staff.

Northwest led 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning when Hinds’ plan of working counts and getting into the Rangers’ bullpen started to pay off.

A single by Kyle O’Keefe put runners at first and third, and the tying run scored on a passed ball. Chase Lunceford followed with a two-out, two-run double to the gap in left center to give the Eagles a 4-2 lead.

With Northwest starter Jonathan Lindsey out of the game, Hinds really got things going in the sixth. It sent 14 batters to the plate against four pitchers, and scored 10 runs. At one point the Eagles had four straight RBI singles that also moved runners from first to third, seemingly perpetuating a run-scoring cycle.

“I think early in the game we were all just getting anxious. We were all just thinking about the state championship. But that fourth, fifth, sixth inning we were all just relaxed and doing what we’ve been doing all season. See ball, hit ball,” said Smith, who drove in three runs in the inning with a pair of singles. “Once Kyle got that single, we were all ‘OK, this is our time to open up the game.”

By the time the sixth inning ended, Hinds had a 14-2 lead and needed only three outs to lock down a run-rule victory.

Northwest did get one back on a bases-loaded walk, but Dalton Dulin hit a sharp grounder to Lunceford at third to start a game-ending double play and the Eagles’ victory celebration.

They dogpiled on the infield grass between the pitcher’s mound and home plate. If it looked a little rough, that’s OK. They’re hoping to do it twice more before the season is over.

“That’s awesome,” said O’Keefe, a freshman outfielder who went 2-for-3 with an RBI on Saturday. “That’s my first experience in the dogpile, and it’s something special. It’s something I want to do again.”