JACKSON – Porters Chapel Academy coach Randy Wright insists the constant barrage of aces and No. 2 pitchers his team is seeing is making it better.

And by the end of the year, when his team might be celebrating a state title, he could be proven right. For now, though, it just seems to be putting a dent in the Eagles’ win-loss record.

Jackson Academy’s David Mooney held PCA to four hits and two runs in seven strong innings, outpitching the Eagles’ Dan Ivey for a 4-2 win. Patrick Brawner went 3-for-3 with three singles and two runs scored for JA, and Joseph Gex drove in two runs.

PCA fell to 7-5 with the loss, and all of its defeats have come against Class AAA teams – most of whom have thrown their top pitchers at the Eagles.

&#8220We’ve seen almost everybody’s ace. I’m trying to think if we haven’t seen anybody’s ace,” Wright said. &#8220We’ve got to feel like it’s making us better. We battled today, and that kid could flat-out pitch.”

Ivey pitched well enough to win. He scattered 10 hits, struck out four and walked none. JA (10-1) tagged him for two runs in the first inning and another in the third, but he picked off two runners to help himself out of jams and retired seven of eight batters in the middle innings.

&#8220That’s the best game Dan Ivey has ever pitched at Porters Chapel,” Wright said. &#8220He kept us in the game, and we played great defense behind him. He got ahead in the count, didn’t give any free bases up, and just gave a phenomenal effort.”

Ivey’s hitters failed to give him the run support that could have pulled out a victory, however.

After PCA took a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI single by Hayden Hales, its bats went silent. Mooney retired 20 of the last 24 batters he faced, and the left-hander coaxed a never-ending string of fly balls from the Eagles when he wasn’t getting them to flail at pitches.

Of PCA’s 21 outs in the game, nine were on balls hit in the air and another eight came on strikeouts.

JA took the lead for good in the bottom of the first. Ivey’s first pitch was belted for a single by Brawner, and his third pitch hit Logan McDowell. A double steal moved the runners into scoring position, and they came around on a sacrifice fly by Gex and an RBI single by Mooney to make it 2-1.

Gex added an RBI single in the third to stretch the lead to 3-1, and the Raiders tacked on an insurance run in the sixth on an RBI double from Tyler Weir. PCA rallied in the seventh, though, and managed to get the tying run at the plate.

Matt Cranfield led off with his second base hit of the game, then scored on a two-out double by Chris Mixon to make it 4-2 and bring PCA’s best hitter, Michael Busby, to the plate.

It wasn’t Busby’s, or the Eagles’, day, however. The junior shortstop hit a weak pop up in foul territory that was easily handled by Gex for the final out.

&#8220We got it into the situation we wanted to get it to,” Wright said. &#8220We had a chance to tie it up at the end, and that’s all we can ask for playing against a team like JA.”

Tallulah 15, Tensas 0.

Tallulah scored four runs in each of the first two innings, then put the game away with a six-run third in shutting down Tensas.

Clayton Holmes pitched a two-hitter to earn the win. He also had three of the Trojans’ 15 hits. Owen Clark, Tony Erwin and Cason Landrum each had two hits in the win.

Tallulah Acad. 4, Riverfield 2.

On Thursday, Clayton Holmes and Jeramie Clack delivered back-to-back RBI singles in the top of the seventh inning Thursday, helping Tallulah Academy rally for a 4-2 win over Riverfield (4-7).

Holmes and Clack also doubled for Tallulah (3-5).