14th-ranked EMCC Lions swept by top-ranked Hinds, 8-1 and 4-1, in MACJC baseball showdown in Scooba
With first place on the line in the MACJC's baseball standings, the 14th-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College were swept, 8-1 and 4-1, by nationally top-ranked Hinds Community College Saturday afternoon at EMCC's Gerald Poole Field.
SCOOBA – With first place on the line in the MACJC's baseball standings, the 14th-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College were swept, 8-1 and 4-1, by nationally top-ranked Hinds Community College Saturday afternoon at EMCC's Gerald Poole Field.
Dropping to 19-11 overall and 13-5 in MACJC play on the year, the EMCC Lions now trail league-leading Hinds (29-2, 16-2) by three full games. Saturday's setbacks at the hands of the reigning NJCAA Division II runners-up marked the first time this season East Mississippi has been swept in doubleheader action.
The opening contest initially lived up to its pre-game billing as a pitchers' duel between a pair of unbeaten hurlers in EMCC's J'Daylin Jackson (7-0) and Randy Bell (6-0) of Hinds. The sophomores battled through a scoreless first five innings before the visitors struck first in the top of the sixth.
A one-out solo home run by Chase Lunceford followed by Marshall Boggs' single knocked Jackson out of the contest. After middle reliever Jay Booth walked a batter and hit another with a pitch, Casey Echols blasted a grand slam to left-center field to give Hinds a 5-0 lead.
The Lions had their chances to cut into the deficit in the bottom half of the sixth. After chasing Bell with back-to-back singles by David Pimentel and Chris McCullough to lead off the inning, Hinds middle reliever Graham Ahlrich later pitched out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam by striking out Taylor Stafford and getting Drew Standland to fly out to center.
With their shutout still intact, the Eagles tallied another run in the seventh on Lunceford's RBI double and then added two more scores the next frame to stretch the margin to 8-0 in the scheduled nine-inning opener.
After leaving 10 runners on base through the first eight innings, EMCC finally got on the board in the final frame when JoVaughn McNabb smacked his third home run of the year off Hinds reliever Trey Jolly.
Pimentel and McCullough led EMCC's nine-hit team effort in game one with two hits apiece.
In the nightcap, both teams traded solo tallies in the third inning. Lunceford's RBI single was answered by McCullough's run-producing grounder that scored McNabb all the way from second base as the Eagles attempted to turn a double play.
Hinds used the long ball again in the fourth to reclaim the lead for good on Jordan Washam's two-run homer off Stafford. The Eagles then plated an unearned insurance run in the seventh to account for the 4-1 outcome.
On the mound for the visitors in the nightcap, starting pitcher Houston Case, now 6-1, went 4.2 innings before giving way to closer Austin Sanders, who registered his ninth save of the campaign. EMCC managed to out-hit the Eagles, 9-5, but the lack of timely hitting by the home team resulted in nine more runners being left stranded on base.
Sophomore shortstop Kyle Liberto went 3-for-3 to lead the Lions at the plate in game two with a pair of singles and a third-inning double.
Coach Chris Rose's East Mississippi squad is scheduled to travel to Fulton on Tuesday to take on Itawamba Community College in a 3 p.m. doubleheader. The Lions are then slated to return home to play host to Pearl River Community College on Saturday (April 18). First pitch for the EMCC-PRCC twinbill on the Scooba campus is set for 1 p.m.