No. 16 EMCC Lions take 1-0 series lead over Mississippi Delta with 10-1 Game 1 win in Scooba
The 16th-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College opened their best-of-three MACJC baseball playoff series against visiting Mississippi Delta Community College with a 10-1 win over the Trojans Friday night at Gerald Poole Field.
SCOOBA – The 16th-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College opened their best-of-three MACJC baseball playoff series against visiting Mississippi Delta Community College with a 10-1 win over the Trojans Friday night at Gerald Poole Field.
The home-standing Lions answered Delta's first-inning tally with a pair of scores of their own in the bottom of the frame. EMCC took advantage of a lead-off throwing error with consecutive two-out, run-producing singles by Blake Key and Taylor Stafford.
EMCC's two-out hitting proficiency continued in the fourth inning. After Corley Reynolds' fly ball fell to the turf just behind second base, JoVaughn McNabb's opposite-field RBI single made it a 3-1 game.
After extending the margin to 5-1 in the sixth on a David Pimentel sacrifice fly to center followed by a two-out Emil Ellis run-scoring single, the Lions went through the batting order a frame later to essentially seal the victory. Ellis' two-run triple to right-center field and another McNabb RBI single highlighted EMCC's five-run seventh inning.
Meanwhile, EMCC freshman right-hander Layton Dill was dominant on the mound after replacing injured starter J'Daylin Jackson one batter into the contest. The Madison Central High School product responded by going the distance, scattering five hits and finishing with six strikeouts and four walks to improve his season record to 4-1.
Offensively for the winners, McNabb paced East Mississippi's 12-hit team effort with a 3-for-4 outing at the plate from his lead-off position. Ellis, Stafford, Reynolds and Dylan Vuncannon all followed with two hits apiece.
Having just swept Mississippi Delta earlier in the week at Moorhead to close out the regular season, head coach Chris Rose's EMCC Lions improved to 27-14 overall. The Trojans fell to 20-26 on the year with sophomore left-hander Tre Hobbs taking the loss.
Game 2 of this weekend's EMCC-MDCC baseball playoff series is set for a 2 p.m. start Saturday on the Scooba campus. A third and deciding game will follow if necessary to determine who advances to next week's MACJC State Baseball Tournament. Saturday's EMCC baseball action will be live video-streamed via www.EMCCAthletics.com/live.