Half-dozen East Mississippi baseball players lauded for season excellence on all-region and all-state teams

JACKSON – Six members of East Mississippi Community College's regional tournament baseball team have been accorded 2015 MACJC All-State honors, as announced Monday by the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges office headquartered in Jackson.

Freshman slugger David Pimentel highlighted EMCC's half-dozen player selections by being tabbed to the 12-man NJCAA All-Region 23 Baseball Team as a designated hitter.  Joining Pimentel on the MACJC's 24-man All-State First Team was EMCC freshman closer Ryan Rigby.  East Mississippi's sophomore battery of southpaw J'Daylin Jackson and catcher Dylan Vuncannon earned postseason honors for a second straight year as second-team all-state picks this season, while freshman outfielders JoVaughn McNabb and Taylor Stafford also collected second-team all-state honors for head coach Chris Rose's 29-18 EMCC Lions.        

Pimentel, a Nashville native, paced the 15-team MACJC with a state-best 14 home runs and 61 runs batted in to stand second among the Region 23 ranks behind Steven Sensley of NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series qualifier LSU Eunice.  While ranking tied for 12^th nationally in home runs and tied for 18^th in RBIs, Pimentel's 14 homers were the most for an EMCC player since 2000 (Brad Montgomery-15) and his 61 RBIs marked the most by an East Mississippi hitter since 1986 (Jeff Perkins-65).  As one of four players to have started all 47 games this past season, Pimentel also batted .355 with a .684 slugging percentage and a .462 on-base percentage for the year as EMCC's power-hitting first baseman.

Rigby, out of Kosciusko High School, was 3-1 as a collegiate rookie with a 0.90 ERA and a team-high five saves as East Mississippi's primary closer out of the bullpen.  Opposing batters hit only .138 (13-for-94) against the side-arming right-hander for the year.  Rigby also induced 56 groundball outs, including five groundball double plays, with only five fly outs during his 30 innings of work over 17 mound appearances.

Veterans Jackson and Vuncannon helped lead EMCC's resurgent baseball program to a two-year composite record of 61-31, including a 20-8 conference mark this past year as MACJC regular-season runners-up to Hinds and an 18-6 division record a season ago by the Lions' first MACJC North Division championship ballclub since 1998.  In addition, this year's East Mississippi squad made its first regional tournament appearance since 2004, while the Lions' 32-13 overall record a season ago marked the program's most wins since 1990.

A former standout at Greenville's St. Joseph Catholic School, Jackson was 7-2 on the hill as a 12-game starter for the Lions this past year.  Including last year's 8-1 mark as a first-team All-MACJC North Division recipient, Jackson completed his two-year EMCC stint with a 15-3 career record along with 77 strikeouts and 45 walks in 110 total innings.

Vuncannon, from Tupelo High School, capped his East Mississippi career as the team's second-best hitter (.377) and on-base percentage leader (.469) as a sophomore.  An 84-game starter behind the plate for the Lions, Vuncannon batted .342 for his EMCC career with a solid .980 fielding percentage.  He previously earned second-team all-division laurels a year ago as a collegiate rookie.

Stafford and McNabb both made immediate impacts in East Mississippi's outfield as collegiate rookies.  A product of New Hope High School, Stafford led the Lions in hitting (.392) this past year to mark the highest batting average for an EMCC player since 2008 (Nathan Peden-.397).  With 14 extra-base hits, 26 RBIs and 25 runs scored as a 39-game starter, Stafford also posted a .583 slugging percentage and .464 on-base percentage.

McNabb, a Hattiesburg native, batted .375 as an EMCC freshman while leading the team with 66 hits, 49 runs scored and 17 stolen bases.  A 47-game starter as a rookie outfielder, McNabb's 66 hits this past season were the most by a Lion batter since 2000 (Brad Montgomery-69).