Booneville, Miss. – Easton Hall helped Northeast Mississippi Community College assistant baseball coach Richy Harrelson celebrate his birthday in an unbelievable way. 

Hall crushed a three-run home run in the eighth inning that turned out to be the game-winner in a 12-11 triumph by the Tigers over Pearl River Community College on Saturday in the first round of the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) State Playoffs at Harold T. White Field.

The Wildcats forced a decisive third contest with a 12-6 victory in game two, but Northeast (27-18) claimed the series 2-1 with its dramatic win in the nightcap. The Tigers, coupled with East Mississippi Community College's losses to East Central Community College, earned the right to host the 2014 MACJC State Tournament next weekend.

Pearl River drew even with Northeast in the top half of the eighth by scoring four runs. The Wildcats loaded the bases with nobody out on two singles and a hit batsman.

A fielding error allowed Pearl River to plate its first run of the frame. Nathan Pugh followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to make the score 9-7 in favor of the Tigers.

Kreg Garner had a RBI single with two outs and pinch hitter Derek Martin was plunked with the bags full of Wildcats to bring the matchup into a stalemate at 9-9. Closer Evan Hickman finally retired the side and got Northeast into the dugout on a groundball to shortstop Luke Stanley.

Jordan Montgomery gave the Tigers new life in the bottom half by reaching on an error to lead off the inning. Heath Wood stepped to the plate next and singled for the 98th hit of his phenomenal career at Northeast to put a pair of men on base.

Hall then connected on a one ball, two strike offering from Colton Lee that hit off the protective tubing on top of the right field wall and bounced over. The line drive rocket served as the third homer of the campaign for New Albany's Hall and put the Tigers in front once again at 12-9.

"It was definitely the biggest hit of my career," said Hall. "I got behind in the count and thought he was coming back with a slider but he threw me a fastball. I trusted my hands and it worked out for me.

"I didn't think it was gone. I thought it went off the wall. But it was huge. It's really unexplainable. I knew those three runs coming in would make it tough for them to come back."

Pearl River (27-22) did threaten in its last at bat after back-to-back RBI singles by Pugh and Garner, who topped the Wildcats' offensive efforts with a combined nine hits and 12 RBIs in the trio of postseason contests.

But Hickman settled in and got Jalen Haskin to swing at a pitch that nearly landed in the dirt to end the matchup. The punch out left both the tying and go-ahead runs stranded on base and sent the Tigers into a frenzied celebration along the first base line.

"That's probably one my bigger strikeouts that I've ever had," Hickman said. "That truly got me pumped. My catcher (Riley Alef) did a great job catching me. I'm just truly thankful to be a part of this program."

Hickman (4-0) garnered the win by tossing the last two frames. The Marshall Academy product struck out two, walked one and conceded zero earned runs.

Lee (1-2) took the loss after giving up five runs on six hits in 3.1 innings. He appeared in all three tilts over the two-day span and recorded a save in Pearl River's game two triumph.

Northeast rebounded from its tough defeat earlier in the afternoon and grabbed an early advantage. Jack Hurdle's groundout to shortstop Derrick Mount plated Trent Turner and got the Tigers on the scoreboard.

Stanley then delivered a clutch two-out single up the middle that brought courtesy runner Colby Williams and Ben Foster home to give Northeast a 3-0 lead after two innings.

The Tigers parlayed a beautiful running catch by Montgomery just shy of the centerfield wall in the top half of the fourth into more success at the plate during their turn at bat.

Stanley singled through the left side, stole second base and scored on a throwing error by the Wildcats. Wood touched home plate moments later on Hall's initial base knock of the matchup to make it 5-0.

Northeast extended its advantage to 7-0 in the fifth on Hurdle's RBI single and a sacrifice fly by Stanley's that easily plated Foster.

Ethan Taylor registered perhaps the best performance of his career as a Tiger. The Arkansas Tech University signee did not earn a decision, but allowed a Northeast bullpen that was heavily used during the series to catch its breath.

He pitched seven innings and scattered eight hits and five runs. The right-hander from Arlington, Tenn., sat down 12 batters in a row at one point between the first and fifth innings.

"I knew I had to do a good job," said Taylor. "It was all or nothing at that point so I went out there and threw up some zeros."

Pugh and the Wildcats finally touched Taylor for five runs in the sixth. Pugh's three-run homer to straightaway centerfield got the frame started while Darien Brown and Lamar Anthony added RBI hits.

Foster, though, made the defensive play of the series to get the Tigers out of a major jam. The third baseman out of New Albany High School fully extended to grab a sharp grounder off the bat of Tracy Hadley and throw him out to stop any further damage.

Turner upped Northeast's lead to 9-5 in the latter half of the inning on a two RBI triple that hopped off the wooden fence in centerfield. Montgomery and Wood raced around the bases on Turner's 17th extra base hit of the year.

Taylor concluded his brilliant outing by getting Adam Smith to strikeout to secure his sixth scoreless frame of the contest.

"He found a groove and he was rolling," said Tigers headman Kent Farris. "We knew coming in that we had Ethan for game three and it was a huge thing coming out there and throwing to the seventh. I could give him a big hug."

Alef gave the Tigers a quick advantage in the first inning of game two with a RBI single that plated Wood. Turner also came home on the play thanks to a throwing error by the catcher to make it 2-0.

Pearl River tied the contest one frame later on two run scoring hits in a row by Kyle Dolan and Brown. The Wildcats then took the lead for good in the seventh on Haskin's solo shot over the left field fence.

Two straight doubles by Drew Wray and Alef cut Northeast's deficit to 8-6 in the eighth, but long balls by Hadley and Garner during the final frame put the matchup out of reach for the Tigers.

However, Pearl River could not pull out another win and Harrelson received the present of a berth to the 2014 MACJC State Tournament on his important day.

"It's big for me personally, but it's bigger for them," Harrelson said. "Good things happen on your birthday, they always do, so we'll take it."

Alef threw out two more men attempting to steal after nailing three in the opener. He continues to lead the league and is now third among all athletes in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) with 20 runners caught stealing.

Wood paced Northeast's offense with four hits in the series while Hall and Hurdle each had four RBIs.

"It wasn't pretty, but we're on the dance floor," said Farris. "I'm extremely proud of the fight our kids had today. There were several points of adversity and we fought through it and came out a winner."