BOONEVILLE, Miss.--Thanks to a 21-9 start to the 2008 baseball season, Kent Farris' Northeast Tigers jumped into the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II rankings on Wednesday at number nine in the nation.

During the sprint to their first 21 wins, Northeast went 16-4 in the month of March.

"Rankings are fun," said Kent Farris, "and we're certainly proud that somebody thinks we're worthy of ninth. But we're not going to have any problem staying grounded because we just lost our first two games in April and we've got to bounce back soon."

Northeast dropped its first two games of April on Tuesday, April 1, to slip to a record of 21-11, 4-2.

"Our ultimate goal is to win our division," Farris added, "because this year the North Division champs will host the state tournament. But the truth is, there's still a long, long way to go. We've still got to play double-headers with Northwest, Itawamba, and Mississippi Delta: three very good programs within our division. Plus, we've got two series left, home and away, with Coahoma."

"Even though we've jumped out to a good start, there's still a ton of work to do if we want to accomplish our first goal of making the postseason."

Farris' ninth-ranked Tigers will travel to Clarksdale to face Coahoma Community College on Saturday, April 5, for a double-header scheduled to begin at noon.

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