No. 18 EMCC Lions register 5-2, 9-6 road sweep over Itawamba in MACJC baseball action

FULTON – Recording their sixth conference doubleheader sweep of the season, the 18^th-ranked East Mississippi Community College Lions knocked off Itawamba Community College, 5-2 and 9-6, during Tuesday's MACJC baseball twin bill played at Roy Cresap Field on the ICC campus.    

Now 21-11 overall and 15-5 in MACJC play, head coach Chris Rose's EMCC Lions currently sit in third place within the conference standings just one game behind Northwest Mississippi (25-8, 16-4).  No. 1-ranked Hinds presently tops the MACJC's baseball standings at 29-2 overall and 16-2 in league action.

The visitors grabbed the early lead in Tuesday's scheduled nine-inning first game at ICC on Emil Ellis' two-out, RBI single that plated lead-off batter JoVaughn McNabb in the top half of the first frame.

Following three scoreless innings from starting pitchers Andrew Crane of EMCC and ICC's TJ Watson, both teams put up a pair of runs in the fifth.  For the Lions, Drew Standland began a productive day at the plate by driving home Kyle Liberto with a single.  Later in the inning, Dylan Vuncannon delivered a timely two-out single that brought home McNabb following the Hattiesburg product's second stolen base of the contest.

Crane ran into control problems in the bottom of the fifth, as three walks and two doubles contributed to two Itawamba tallies.  To his credit, the sophomore right-hander battled and struck out Seth Young with the bases loaded to help maintain EMCC's slim 3-2 lead after five innings.

Pitching into the seventh, Crane gave up just the two runs on only three hits, while fanning four and walking four, to improve to 4-1 on the year and 10-2 over his EMCC career.  East Mississippi's bullpen came up big in the opener by shutting down the Indians over the final four innings.  JC Redden and Ryder Davis held ICC in check before giving way to closer Ryan Rigby, who retired the home team in order with three groundball outs in the ninth to pick up his fifth save of the campaign.

EMCC went on to post solo scores in the sixth and seventh innings on Standland's RBI double and courtesy runner Lowell Haney scoring on a wild pitch, respectively, to account for the final outcome.

Offensively for EMCC in the first contest, Standland, Vuncannon and David Pimentel all had two hits apiece to highlight the Lions' 10-hit team effort.

In the scheduled seven-inning nightcap, the visitors jumped out to an early 3-0 advantage but then had to battle back from a 6-4 mid-game deficit en route to completing their third MACJC road sweep of the season.

Following a sacrifice fly by Pimentel and Ellis' RBI single in the opening frame, Pimentel put the Lions on top 3-0 against ICC starter Trenton Stringer with his seventh home run of the year coming in the third inning.

After the two teams traded solo runs in their next at-bats, the Indians chased EMCC starting pitcher Zach Irwin in the bottom of the fourth by batting around to score five runs on six hits on the way to taking a 6-4 lead.

Ignited by former New Hope High School standout Taylor Stafford's one-out solo homer, the Lions responded with three runs in the top of the fifth to reclaim the lead for good.  Following Stafford's fourth home run of the year, Corley Reynolds and Standland had clutch back-to-back, run-scoring hits to put the visitors back on top.

While adding two insurance runs in the top of the seventh on Vuncannon's sacrifice fly and Standland scoring on a wild pitch, the Lions were again dominant out of the bullpen.  In relief of Irwin, Layton Dill, Rigby and Jay Booth combined to shut down ICC on just two hits over the final 3.1 scoreless innings.  Dill picked up the victory to move to 2-1 on the season, while Booth recorded his fourth save.  

Offensively for the winners, Standland capped his 5-for-6 doubleheader effort at the plate with three singles and a walk while also adding his third RBI of the day.  Also contributing to EMCC's 12-hit effort in the nightcap were Stafford and McNabb with two hits apiece.

East Mississippi continues MACJC play at home by entertaining Pearl River in a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday at EMCC's Gerald Poole Field.  The Lions will then play host to Northwest Mississippi on Wednesday (April 22) in a key twin bill beginning at 4 p.m. on the Scooba campus.