Hinds Community College lived to fight another day at the NJCAA Region XXIII Tournament.

Tyler Akins went 3-for-3 with a double and three RBIs, former St. Aloysius star Pierson Waring scored two runs, and Hinds beat Mississippi Gulf Coast 7-2 on Friday to stay alive in the tournament.

Hinds will face Itawamba Community College in another elimination game today at 3 p.m. in Eunice, La. The winner of that game will face LSU-Eunice at 7 p.m.

It was Hinds’ fourth win in six meetings with MGCC this season. The teams split a pair of doubleheaders in the regular season, and Hinds won 6-5 last week in the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges state tournament.

Gulf Coast (31-21) was eliminated from the NJCAA tournament.

Hinds never trailed Friday. Former Warren Central star Beau Wallace reach base on a one-out single in the bottom of the first inning and eventually scored the game’s first run on a sacrifice fly by Caleb Baucum.

Baucum delivered again in the third inning with an RBI double to make it 2-0 and spark a three-run rally. Chris Jones hit a sacrifice fly and Baucum scored on Martin-Nez’s single for a 4-0 lead.

The Eagles tackled on another run in the fourth and two in the sixth.

Michael Paul and Daniel Miles had two hits apiece for Mississippi Gulf Coast, which struggled while playing from behind. MGCC left four runners on base in the first five innings and didn’t score until Joey Harris hit a two-run double in the sixth. Hinds pitcher Carey Taylor got out of that jam without further damage and shut down the Bulldogs the rest of the way.

Taylor pitched a complete game, finishing with seven strikeouts while walking only one batter.