No. 18 EMCC Lions split with Pearl River to set up Wednesday's key home baseball DH with 16th-ranked Northwest

SCOOBA – David Pimentel's walk-off RBI single lifted the 18^th-ranked East Mississippi Community College baseball team to an 11-10 comeback win over Pearl River Community College in Monday's opening game of an MACJC doubleheader played at EMCC's Gerald Poole Field.  The visiting Wildcats salvaged the twin-bill split with a 7-3 nightcap victory over the home-standing Lions.

In a seesaw opening contest, EMCC squandered an early 5-1 lead only to rally from a 10-6 deficit with five runs and a pair of defensive gems over the final four frames of the scheduled nine-inning game to pull out the victory.  Behind the complete-game pitching performance of Jordan Hayes, Pearl River mounted a 6-0 lead in the nightcap en route to collecting the four-run win and earning the doubleheader split.

The Lions chased PRCC starting pitcher Brandon Brown with five runs in the first two innings of the opening game.  Following a three-run first, Pimentel launched his team-leading eighth home run of the year with a man aboard to stake EMCC starter J'Daylin Jackson to a 5-1 lead after two innings.

Aided by a pair of EMCC errors, the visitors bounced back with three runs in the top of the third to narrow the deficit to 5-4.  The Wildcats then reached Jackson and middle reliever Ryder Davis for four runs in the fifth and two more the next inning to move ahead 10-6 heading into the bottom of the sixth.  PRCC's Gage Teer produced four of those six runs with a two-run blast in the fifth – his second homer of the game – and a two-run single in his next at-bat.

The momentum of the opening contest changed with one swing of the bat when EMCC's Chris McCullough smacked a three-run homer – his fourth of the season – off Pearl River's Jacob Taylor to make it a one-run game after six innings.        

As the Lions got into PRCC's bullpen late in the game, EMCC freshman right-hander JC Redden held the Pearl River bats in check over the last three innings.  While allowing only two base runners over the final 3.1 innings, Redden was also the recipient of a pair of sparkling defensive plays up the middle down the stretch.  First, Lion sophomore second baseman Drew Standland saved a run in the seventh with a fully extended diving nab of Tracy Hadley's liner up the middle with a drawn-in infield.  In the final frame following a lead-off walk and a fly out, Lion sophomore shortstop Kyle Liberto turned a high throw to second base from Redden on a comebacker to the mound into an acrobatic, inning-ending double play to set up the dramatic finish.

JoVaughn McNabb led off the bottom of the ninth by coaxing a walk off PRCC reliever Carlos Lott.  After Dylan Vuncannon reached base for the sixth time in the contest with his fourth hit, Pimentel delivered his game-winning RBI single to left field off Derrick Mount, who had moved to the mound from his shortstop position in an attempt to halt EMCC's rally.  

Offensively in the opener for the victors, five EMCC players had multi-hit outings during the team's 12-hit effort.  Along with Vuncannon's four hits, Pimentel, McCullough, Emil Ellis and Taylor Stafford all contributed two hits apiece.

Redden improved his record to 3-2 on the year in picking up the victory for the Lions.  The New Hope High School product allowed only one hit with two strikeouts and a walk while closing out the contest with three consecutive shutout innings.

In the nightcap, the Wildcats rode the arm of Hayes and scored in five straight innings, including two-run homers by Hadley in the third and Mount in the fifth, to maintain the advantage throughout the seven-inning contest.

Hayes, a freshmen right-hander from Taylorsville, held the Lions hitless until the sixth inning when the home team managed to trim the margin in half with three runs on three singles and a trio of walks.  Consecutive run-producing singles by Pimentel and Ellis made it a 6-3 ballgame, but Ellis was thrown out attempting to advance to second on his hit up the middle and the resulting throwing error from the outfield to third base.

Pearl River added an insurance run in the seventh, while Hayes went the distance in throwing a four-hitter to earn the doubleheader split for the visitors.

In the midst of a week-long stretch with four conference doubleheaders to close out the regular season, head coach Chris Rose's 22-12 EMCC Lions are tied with Northwest Mississippi and Meridian for second place in the MACJC baseball standings with identical league marks of 16-6.  EMCC will close out its regular-season home slate by playing host to the 16^th-ranked NWCC Rangers in a key 4 p.m. Wednesday doubleheader at Gerald Poole Field on the Scooba campus.