EMCC concludes successful season with rain-delayed, 11-inning 4-3 setback to Northwest in NJCAA Region 23 tourney
A possible late-game comeback attempt was thwarted by an old division nemesis, as 17th-ranked East Mississippi Community College's baseball season came to an end with a rain-delayed, 11-inning 4-3 setback to No. 18 Northwest Mississippi Community College in Friday's elimination game of the NJCAA Region 23 Baseball Tournament being hosted by LSU Eunice at Bengal Stadium.
EUNICE, La. – A possible late-game comeback attempt was thwarted by an old division nemesis, as 17th-ranked East Mississippi Community College's baseball season came to an end with a rain-delayed, 11-inning 4-3 setback to No. 18 Northwest Mississippi Community College in Friday's elimination game of the NJCAA Region 23 Baseball Tournament being hosted by LSU Eunice at Bengal Stadium.
Coach Chris Rose's East Mississippi Lions conclude their successful 2015 baseball campaign with a 29-18 overall record as MACJC regular-season runners-up at 20-8 and a third-place finish at last week's MACJC State Tournament in Raymond. This week's appearance at LSU Eunice marked EMCC's first regional berth since the 2004 baseball season under the guidance of former head coach Bill Baldner.
Sitting through two separate weather delays totaling 110 minutes, the EMCC Lions battled back from a 3-0 deficit with a three-run seventh inning but ultimately dropped the extra-inning decision to traditional MACJC North Division rival NWCC.
With the 2015 season on the line for both teams, the designated visitors from Senatobia scored initially in the top of the first when pitcher Andrew Crane's throw to first base on Stuart Chick's sacrifice bunt attempt plated lead-off batter LeeMarcus Boyd all the way from first.
The Rangers, now 33-16, later added two more solo runs off Crane on Boyd's RBI single in the fifth and pinch-hitter Hunter Wilson's sacrifice fly an inning later to make it a 3-0 contest through six innings.
On the mound for Northwest, starting pitcher Austin Towles was sailing along until EMCC designated hitter Chris McCullough led off the seventh with a double off the base of the right-centerfield wall. Emil Ellis' subsequent single to centerfield was followed by Taylor Stafford's run-scoring groundout to first base. Kyle Liberto's chopper over third base then scored Ellis to knock Towles out of the game. After pinch-hitter Blake Key struck out, Drew Standland's clutch, two-out RBI single off reliever J.G. Lipscomb knotted the score at 3-3.
The elimination contest remained tied through the next three innings that included nearly two hours of rain delays. After stranding runners at first and third during a potential two-out rally in the eighth, the Lions missed another scoring opportunity that would have ended the game in regulation. Following a lead-off walk to defensive replacement Colton McKeithen to begin the ninth and after an initial 53-minute weather delay, Standland bunted pinch-runner Mo Brown to second. JoVaughn McNabb was then intentionally walked and both runners advanced into scoring position on Dylan Vuncannon's groundout to short. Northwest reliever Ian Painter pitched out of the jam by getting Lions slugger David Pimentel out on a check-swing grounder to first base.
Despite a second rain delay of 57 minutes between innings in the 10th, EMCC freshman closer and Mississippi State commit Ryan Rigby threw four effective innings of relief for the Lions. The reigning MACJC Pitcher of the Week allowed just three singles beginning with the seventh inning to put East Mississippi in a position to win the contest.
However, it was Northwest that managed to extend its season by pushing across a run in the top of the 11th inning. Cody Cooper led off the frame with a single off reliever Jay Booth. Following a pitching change, he was then bunted over to second and advanced to third on JC Redden's wild pitch. After Jamell Newson struck out, Boyd perfectly placed a two-out bunt single between right-side infielders to send Cooper home with the go-ahead run.
In response, the Lions did manage to mount a slight rally in the bottom of the 11th when Liberto was hit by a Painter pitch to lead off the frame. Defensive replacement Lowell Haney then successfully bunted over Liberto to second, but Northwest closer Koby Busby struck out Standland looking and got McNabb to fly out to center field to preserve the victory and send the Rangers to Saturday's elimination game against Hinds.