No. 14 East Mississippi splits at rival East Central in Thursday MACJC baseball action

DECATUR – J'Daylin Jackson improved to 7-0 on the year and David Pimentel hit his team-high fifth home run to help lead East Mississippi Community College's 14^th-ranked baseball team to an MACJC road doubleheader split with rival East Central Community College Thursday evening.  Following EMCC's 7-5 win in the opening game, the home-standing Warriors used a 12-run fourth inning to claim a 17-2 nightcap victory at ECCC's Clark/Gay Baseball Complex.

In a conference twinbill moved up one day because of Friday's rain forecast, the visitors manufactured a first-inning run by loading the bases on an infield error followed by a hit batsman and a walk.  Freshman Emil Ellis then delivered a run-scoring single to left field off ECCC starting pitcher Colby Eaves to give the Lions the early 1-0 lead.

The visitors did even more damage with the bases loaded in the third frame.  After Ellis' sacrifice fly to center field with the bases full plated EMCC's second run of the game, sophomore shortstop Kyle Liberto's line-drive double to left field later cleared the bases to extend the lead to 5-0.

After cruising through the first five innings, EMCC's Jackson, a sophomore left-hander, ran into sixth-inning difficulty.  An infield error to open the inning paved the way for a four-run frame, as the Warriors went through the batting order to make it a 5-4 ballgame.

The Lions responded immediately in the top of the seventh with Pimentel unloading his team-leading fifth home run of the season with a man aboard off ECCC's Channing Wall to give the visitors a little more breathing room in the scheduled nine-inning contest.      

East Central got one of those runs back in the bottom of the seventh off middle reliever Layton Dill to make it a 7-5 contest heading into the final two frames.  EMCC closer Jay Booth, from Florence, struck out three and worked through a lead-off double in the ninth to pick up his third save of the year.

Making his seventh start of the year, Jackson allowed four unearned runs on just three hits while striking out five and walking two over 5.2 innings.  The all-state selection from Greenville's St. Joseph Catholic School improved his EMCC career mark to 14-1 with his seventh win in as many decisions this season.

Liberto and Dylan Vuncannon paced the Lions offensively in game one with two hits apiece.  Liberto's three runs batted in led the way, while Pimentel and Ellis each added two RBIs for the winners.

As the final score indicates, the Warriors dominated the nightcap from the outset.  East Central reached starting pitcher Taylor Stafford for three first-inning runs and two more in the second on five total hits, including three RBI doubles, to take an early 5-1 lead.

The contest quickly got out of hand in the bottom half of the fourth when the home team nearly batted around twice en route to scoring a dozen runs on nine hits.  The Warriors also benefitted from four walks and four wild pitches by a trio of EMCC pitchers during the frame.         

After East Central went through seven pitchers in the opening game, Will Myers shut down the Lions in the nightcap.  The sophomore southpaw fanned nine and walked two, while giving up just three singles, before giving way to Ben Cooley in the fifth and final frame of the run-ruled contest.

For EMCC, Liberto, Pimentel and Ellis each had singles in the nightcap as did pinch-hitter Lowell Haney.

Now 18-8 overall and 12-2 in conference play, head coach Chris Rose's EMCC Lions next travel to Booneville to take on the Tigers of Northeast Mississippi Community College in a scheduled 1 p.m. Wednesday doubleheader.