EMCC Lions set to open 2015 baseball season this weekend at two-day tournament in Florida
Looking to ride the momentum of last year's most accomplished baseball season in two decades, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College are set to open the 2015 campaign this weekend at the Carl McInnis Classic in Florida. Hosted by Northwest Florida State College, the two-day tournament begins Friday in Niceville, Fla.
SCOOBA – Looking to ride the momentum of last year's most accomplished baseball season in two decades, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College are set to open the 2015 campaign this weekend at the Carl McInnis Classic in Florida. Hosted by Northwest Florida State College, the two-day tournament begins Friday in Niceville, Fla.
As they did a year ago en route to claiming the school's first MACJC North Division regular-season baseball championship since 1998, fifth-year head coach Chris Rose's EMCC Lions will take on a pair of NJCAA Division I opponents to begin the 2015 season. After splitting with host Northwest Florida State and current preseason eighth-ranked Georgia Perimeter College last February, the same two tournament foes await East Mississippi this weekend. EMCC is slated to meet NWF State Friday at 11 a.m. and then again Saturday at 5 p.m. Sandwiched in between for the Lions will be 2 p.m. contests against GPC on both days.
Ranked 18th nationally in the official season-ending NJCAA Division II baseball poll last season, this year's new-look EMCC squad starts the season at that same spot according to Collegiate Baseball's 2015 NJCAA Division II preseason poll. The Lions return eight players from last year's winningest EMCC baseball team (32-13) since 1990, along with welcoming 22 newcomers to the Scooba campus.
Heading the list of East Mississippi's returning players are all-state pitchers J'Daylin Jackson and Andrew Crane, who combined for 14 victories on the mound as freshmen for the Lions. Jackson, a southpaw from Greenville's St. Joseph Catholic School, tied for third among NJCAA Region 23 leaders with eight pitching victories (8-1) a year ago, while Pascagoula's Crane, a right-handed hurler, followed with a 6-1 mark and two saves as a collegiate rookie.
Sophomore left-hander Tyler Young, from Hattiesburg's Presbyterian Christian School, is also back for the Lions after making seven appearances in 2014. Caledonia's Cody Allsup, a sophomore right-hander, is once again available for mound duty after throwing in five games as an EMCC freshman.
The Lions appear very solid up the middle with the return of shortstop Kyle Liberto and catcher Dylan Vuncannon. The versatile Liberto, out of Hancock High School, hails as EMCC's leading returning hitter at .327 in addition to going 4-2 with a save on the hill last spring. Tupelo's Vuncannon, a 37-game starter behind the plate for the Lions last season, batted .286 and fielded at a .978 clip.
Sophomore outfielder Blake Key also returns as a 38-game starter for the Lions. The Northeast Lauderdale product hit .250, including 10 extra-base hits, with 23 runs batted in and 20 runs scored, as an EMCC freshman. After missing last season due to injury, sophomore Drew Standland, from Oak Grove High School, is back and could provide valuable leadership to EMCC's middle infield.
Among East Mississippi's talented group of newcomers expected to make immediate contributions include prep teammates Taylor Stafford and JC Redden, who helped lead New Hope High School to back-to-back MHSAA Class 5A state championships. The left-handed Stafford, initially a Mississippi State signee before transferring to EMCC, batted .327 with 14 extra-base hits as a senior outfielder while also going 7-1 on the mound. Throwing from the right side, Redden went 10-1 for the New Hope Trojans a year ago.
The Lions look to also benefit both in the infield and at the plate with the addition of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College transfer Hunter Brannan, who prepped at George County High School.
Upon returning from Florida, the EMCC Lions are scheduled to open their 2015 home baseball slate Tuesday (Feb. 10) by playing host to preseason 11th-ranked Jones County Junior College in a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Gerald Poole Field on the Scooba campus. East Mississippi will then play a pair of games – noon vs. Southwestern Illinois College and 2:30 p.m. vs. Dyersburg State CC - Friday (Feb. 13) in the prestigious Flag City Classic to be played at USA Stadium in Millington, Tenn.