Pair of come-from-behind wins gives EMCC Lions doubleheader baseball sweep at Coahoma

CLARKSDALE – The Lions of East Mississippi Community College rallied for a pair of come-from-behind road wins by sweeping Coahoma, 5-3 and 8-7, during Tuesday afternoon MACJC baseball action played at the Eddie C. Smith Sportsplex.

In a twin bill moved up a day in advance of Wednesday's expected inclement weather, EMCC was down 3-0 in the opener before plating five unanswered runs.  The Lions then trailed 7-1 after four innings of the seven-inning nightcap prior to scoring seven times over the final three frames to complete the sweep with a second straight comeback victory over the Tigers.

Winners of five of their last six games, head coach Chris Rose's 9-17 EMCC Lions evened their conference mark at 5-5 heading into next Tuesday's (April 5) road doubleheader against rival Meridian Community College.

In the opener at Coahoma, the Tigers jumped on EMCC starting pitcher Layton Dill for three runs on four singles in the bottom of the first.  After that, however, the sophomore right-hander settled into a groove and was virtually unhittable over the next six innings until the Lions went to the bullpen.

While Dill was allowing just four base-runners during his six-inning dominance, the visitors were making things difficult on themselves offensively with two runners getting picked off base, a caught stealing and having a potential run thrown out at home on a double.  Despite the base-running mishaps, EMCC was still able to chip away at the Coahoma lead throughout the nine-inning opener.

Following run-producing hits by Andrew White and Alex Knight in the second and fifth innings, respectively, the Lions were able to knot the score at 3-3 by turning Mike Farnell's one-out double into the game-tying run in the sixth.                        

As the Lions went to their bullpen for the final two innings, they were able to reach Coahoma's relievers for a pair of runs in the top of the eighth.  Stewart Ball's lead-off walk was followed by consecutive hits from Chance Witt, Knight and Marcus Ragan, who capped the rally with his second double of the game.

Freshman Whitt Davis moved over to the mound from his starting third base position with one out and two runners on base in the bottom of the eighth.  The Huntsville, Alabama product promptly retired five of the six batters he faced to secure the 5-3 comeback victory for the Lions and notch his first save of his collegiate career.

As East Mississippi pitching combined to limit the Tigers to only one hit – a double by Hayden Tapper to open the sixth – over the final eight innings, Dill's masterful 13-strikeout performance gave the Madison Central High School product his first win of the season and fifth victory of his EMCC career.   

In the seven-inning nightcap, the two teams traded solo runs in the first inning.  With two-time MACJC Pitcher of the Week Dustin Allen on the hill for the home-standing Tigers, Coahoma gave the five-game winner plenty of run support with five scores in the third followed by another tally a frame later to jump out to a 7-1 advantage.  Batting through the order in the third, Coahoma banged out six straight hits off EMCC's Knight and middle reliever Colton McKeithen, including a two-run double by Tyler Crouch.  Chance Riley came in to stop the bleeding for the Lions by inducing a line-drive double play to second base and a fly out to right field.

With late relief support from sophomore right-handers Ryder Davis and JC Redden keeping Coahoma scoreless over the final three innings, the Lions put five consecutive batters on base to open the fifth against Allen.  Ragan's fifth hit (and third double) of the afternoon preceded RBI singles by Emil Ellis and Farnell along with a sacrifice fly off the bat of Davis to bring across four runs and cut the deficit to 7-5.

Ellis, out of Ridgeland, opened the seventh inning with his fourth hit of the contest off Allen.  Successive one-out singles by Davis, Ball and White later chased Allen after 6.1 innings to give way to reliever Bryan Pala, who promptly walked Joseph Caskey and Austin Lowther to force in the go-ahead run for the Lions.

After working a scoreless sixth in relief, Redden retired the Tigers in order in the seventh to lock down EMCC's second comeback win of the day and complete the conference doubleheader road sweep over Coahoma.  Redden, a product of New Hope High School, evened his record at 1-1 on the year while registering his fourth career win for the Lions.