Pair of grand slams lifts 14th-ranked EMCC to MACJC baseball doubleheader split at Mississippi Gulf Coast

PERKINSTON – Opening-game grand slams by David Pimentel and Chris McCullough helped lift 14^th-ranked East Mississippi Community College to an MACJC baseball doubleheader split at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Saturday evening at Ken "Curly" Farris Field.  Following the Lions' 11-2 victory in the opening contest, Tyler Rachel's walk-off, three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh gave the home-standing Bulldogs a dramatic 6-3 nightcap win to gain the split.

With the split coupled with 20^th-ranked Meridian and Northwest Mississippi splitting their Saturday twin bill with one another, EMCC (24-14, 18-8) remains tied with NWCC (27-12, 18-8) for third place in the MACJC baseball standings.  Because of earlier postponements due to previous rainouts, nationally top-ranked and league-leading Hinds (33-4, 20-4) is scheduled to play at Mississippi Delta on Sunday and then play host to Meridian on Monday.  Northwest will play host to Holmes to begin the week.

Also due to a rainout earlier in the season, head coach Chris Rose's EMCC Lions are slated to conclude their regular-season slate at Mississippi Delta (19-22, 13-11) Monday afternoon in Moorhead.  The top eight teams in the 15-member MACJC will advance to participate in best-of-three baseball playoff series this weekend (May 1-3) on campus sites of the top four regular-season finishers.

Following a three-hour rain delay in Perkinston Saturday afternoon, EMCC and Gulf Coast went three scoreless innings before trading solo runs in the fourth.  Drew Standland's two-out RBI single for the visitors was answered by Brian Lane's lead-off home run in the bottom half of the fourth off EMCC starting pitcher JC Redden.

EMCC's power surge began in the sixth when Pimentel lined a two-out, bases-loaded home run to left field off MGCCC starting pitcher Destin Aime.  After Standland plated another two-out run with a single in the seventh, Pimentel made it a 7-2 contest with a solo blast to lead off the eighth.  The Nashville native now leads the MACJC with 11 home runs on the year.

The Lions didn't stop there as McCullough delivered the second grand slam of the scheduled nine-inning contest – his sixth homer of the season – in the ninth to account for the 11-2 final margin. 

Standland had three singles to lead EMCC's 14-hit team effort in the opener.  Pimentel, McCullough and Taylor Stafford all added two hits apiece in the victory.

Having relieved Redden in the fifth inning, freshman right-hander Jake Bracewell gave up just one run on five hits with two strikeouts and no walks over the final 4.2 innings to pick up his first collegiate win in three decisions.

After scoring all but one of their 11 opening-game runs with two outs, the visitors continued that trend to begin the nightcap.  With two down in the top of the third, Pimentel and Emil Ellis capped a span of four consecutive singles by EMCC with run-producing hits to give the Lions a brief 2-1 lead.

Despite plating another run in the fourth on Standland's double play grounder, a pair of fielding miscues and some missed scoring opportunities would come back to haunt the Lions in the end.  Infield errors at the corners by EMCC contributed to solo tallies for MGCCC in the third and fourth innings to knot the score at 3-3.

EMCC starter Zach Irwin pitched effectively into the fifth inning, striking out five without issuing a walk and allowing just one earned run before giving way to reliever Jay Booth.  Booth followed by inducing an inning-ending double play in the fifth and retired the side in order a frame later.

KeWayne McCray came out of the EMCC bullpen to begin the decisive seventh inning.  After striking out each of his three previous at-bats in the game, Patrick McMahon lined a lead-off single to left field and was bunted to second by Lane.  Following an intentional walk to James Land and a call to the bullpen for Ryder Davis, Rachel smacked his game-winning, three-run homer to left field to keep alive the Bulldogs' postseason chances.   

Along with hitting into three double plays in the nightcap, the Lions stranded 10 runners on base, including leaving base runners on third during each of the last four frames.  After getting eight hits through the first four innings, EMCC was limited to just two singles over the final three frames by Gulf Coast hurlers Irby Dossett and Dalton Sears.  

The Lions evenly spread out their 10 hits in the second game with Ellis and Dylan Vuncannon leading the way with two hits each.