It came a little too easy to wash away all of the thoughts of their recent slump. Still, the Porters Chapel Eagles found a way to at least cleanse their palate and start fresh.

In what amounted to a glorified batting practice, PCA belted out 32 hits in only four innings and swept a doubleheader from an overmatched Mt. Salus team on Tuesday, 16-1 and 23-0. Each game lasted just 2 1/2 innings before ending via the mercy rule.

“It’s the game we can bounce back and start over,” said PCA’s Clayton Holmes, who went 5-for-5 in the doubleheader. He had two doubles, three RBIs, four stolen bases and five runs scored. He also pitched two innings in game two, striking out four. “Everybody needs a confidence builder game every now and then, and these were our two confidence games to gear up for Simpson.”

PCA (4-2, 2-0 District 5-A) plays perennial power Simpson Academy on Friday night and had scored only two runs in its previous two games, both losses. On Monday, Tallulah Academy’s Albert Martin shut them out on three hits.

Mt. Salus (0-4, 0-4) offered no such resistance.

PCA took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning in game one, as Mt. Salus starter Hayden Wilkins kept the Eagles off-balance with a fastball that barely reached 60 mph. It was the only time in four at-bats Tuesday that PCA did not bat around.

PCA erupted for 14 runs in the second inning, then sent 24 men to the plate and scored 18 runs in the first inning of game two. In the second game, PCA coach Randy Wright lifted most of his starters after two trips through the lineup and kept his runners to one base after the score reached 10-0. By the end, he was even giving pointers to Mt. Salus’ players on groundballs as if they were on his own team.

Six different pitchers worked in the doubleheader for PCA, with only Holmes throwing more than one inning. Mt. Salus put a total of four balls in play in six innings and did not have a hit. Its lone run in game one came courtesy of two walks, a hit batter and a two-out error in the top of the third.

Holmes and Zach Rachal combined to throw a three-inning perfect game in game two.

“The only thing we really get out of this is two district wins. We’ll take it though,” Wright said. “We took care of business and did what we were supposed to do.”

For PCA, Josh Hill was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and three RBIs in the doubleheader; Joe Borrello homered and drove in four runs; Matthew Warren was 4-for-5 with a triple and four RBIs; Montana McDaniel hit a three-run, inside-the-park homer in game one; Rachal was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI singles; and Reed Gordon was 3-for-3 with three RBIs.

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com.