Pitching dominates as EMCC Lions drop hard-luck home baseball doubleheader to Northeast
The home-standing Lions of East Mississippi Community College were on the short end of a pair of well-pitched contests as they dropped an MACJC baseball doubleheader, 3-1 and 3-2, to Northeast Mississippi Wednesday evening at Gerald Poole Field.
SCOOBA – The home-standing Lions of East Mississippi Community College were on the short end of a pair of well-pitched contests as they dropped an MACJC baseball doubleheader, 3-1 and 3-2, to Northeast Mississippi Wednesday evening at Gerald Poole Field.
With the two teams able to combine for just nine runs on only 21 total hits during the twin-bill, pitching excellence was at a premium. Defensively, the Lions' six errors on the night also had an impact on the final outcomes.
The nine-inning opener featured head-to-head pitching gems by starters Josh Stillman of Northeast and EMCC's Layton Dill.
The Lions had a pair of singles in the bottom of the first by Marcus Ragan and Jo McNabb, but they were promptly erased on a double play and a caught stealing, respectively. Those were EMCC's only hits until the game's latter stages, as Stillman entered the seventh having faced only two more batters than the minimum through the opening two-thirds of the contest.
Meanwhile, EMCC's Dill was putting together yet another quality start until the Lions encountered some defensive woes in the top of the fourth. A pair of throwing errors and a fielding miscue led to three unearned runs by the Tigers, as they capitalized with Garrison Howell's two-out, two-run single to cap the inning.
The 3-0 Northeast lead stood until EMCC freshman catcher Mike Farnell led off the bottom of the ninth with his third home run of the season. But, Stillman retired the next three batters in order to seal his complete-game four-hitter for the visitors. Besides the first-inning singles and the homer in the ninth, the only other hit Stillman allowed was a two-out single by Chance Witt in the seventh. Stillman, a freshman right-hander from New Hope High School struck out three and didn't issue a walk while throwing just 94 pitches over the nine innings.
Stillman's pitching counterpart, Dill went 7.2 strong innings for the Lions, allowing the three unearned runs on six hits while striking out six and walking just one as the hard-luck loser. EMCC also received solid relief work from Jay Booth, who gave up just two singles over the final 1.1 innings.
The seven-inning nightcap proved to be another solid head-to-head matchup on the mound between starters Ryan Wesson of Northeast and EMCC's Jacques Pucheu.
After the visitors took the early 1-0 lead on Bailey Walker's two-out RBI single in the third, the Lions tied things up in the fourth by plating an unearned run in the fourth with the aid of two Northeast errors and a passed ball.
The tie was broken in the fifth when two more EMCC errors contributed to a two-run Northeast inning off Pucheu. Sandwiched between the pair of miscues was a run-scoring double from Stillman, who moved from the mound to third base for the second game. Lion reliever Ryder Davis came in to minimize the damage in the fifth and continued to keep the Tigers off the scoreboard during the final two innings.
Despite Wesson striking out 10 and allowing only a lead-off single to Emil Ellis in the second through six innings of work, the visitors decided to pull their starter in favor of closer Taylor Bobo to start the seventh. Entering the game with a 4-0 record and five saves, Bobo walked Whitt Davis to begin the final frame. Austin Lowther followed an Alex Knight single with an RBI double to cut the deficit to one run. After Ragan was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out, the Lions had two chances to perhaps pull out a walk-off win or at least send the game into extra innings. But, Bobo induced consecutive ground balls off the bats of McNabb and Witt to complete the sweep for Northeast, who improved to 19-17 overall and 10-8 within the conference.
Coach Chris Rose's East Mississippi Lions, 10-22 overall and 6-10 in MACJC play, take on Hinds Community College in a 2 p.m. doubleheader moved back one day to Sunday and off campus to Jackson's Smith-Wills Stadium because of continuing wet field conditions caused by this week's significant rain.