East Mississippi drops a pair of close decisions at No. 20 Northwest Mississippi in MACJC baseball action

SENATOBIA – The Lions of East Mississippi Community College dropped a pair of close decisions, 8-5 and 4-2, in falling on the road to 20^th-ranked Northwest Mississippi Community College during Tuesday afternoon MACJC baseball action played at Jim Miles Field.

Coach Chris Rose's EMCC Lions, now 13-27 overall on the year and 9-15 in conference action, basically remain in a must-win situation for any possible postseason contention as they prepare to close out the regular season by playing host to Mississippi Gulf Coast and Southwest Mississippi on Saturday and Monday, respectively.  Saturday's first pitch versus Gulf Coast is set for 1 p.m. at Gerald Poole Field, while Monday's rescheduled twin-bill from an earlier rainout against Southwest is set for 3 p.m. also on the Scooba campus.

Against Northwest, the visitors reached starting pitcher Peyton Plumlee, a Mississippi State signee, for three runs in the opening frame.  A one-out walk to Mike Farnell was followed by a Jo McNabb triple, a run-producing groundout from Taylor Stafford and Emil Ellis' first career collegiate home run.

The Rangers responded an inning later by plating a pair of runs off EMCC starting pitcher Ryder Davis in the second.  The Lions got one of those runs back in the third on Stafford's team-leading eighth home run of the year – his third homer in as many games – and 12^th of his EMCC career.

Highlighted by Cody Cooper's two-run double, Northwest took the lead (5-4) for the first time in the fifth by scoring three runs off EMCC middle reliever Ben Smith, who took the loss to fall to 1-2 on the year.  After freshman Chance Witt knotted the score in the sixth with his first collegiate home run – EMCC's third solo blast of the game – the Rangers reclaimed the advantage for good in the bottom half of the frame with an unearned run.  They then added two insurance runs off EMCC's Eli Leathers in the eighth on three hits, a hit-batsman and a sacrifice fly.

All but two of EMCC's eight hits in the opener went for extra bases, as freshmen Whitt Davis and Alex Knight added a triple and double, respectively.

The home team got on the scoreboard first in the seven-inning nightcap by scoring solo runs during each of the first two innings off EMCC starting pitcher Layton Dill, who fell to 1-4 for the season.  The Lions managed to reach NWCC starting pitcher Dalton Minton for solo tallies in the fifth and sixth innings via two-out RBI singles from Andrew White and Ellis, respectively.  However, the third out was recorded on both run-producing plays to stifle potential EMCC rallies.

Northwest answered the Lions' possible comeback attempt by scoring a pair of runs in the fifth on David Herrington's two-run single of EMCC reliever Colton McKeithen.

As both teams had seven hits apiece in the second contest, Whitt Davis led the way for the visitors with a pair of singles.     

The Northwest Rangers improved to 26-14 overall and 18-8 in MACJC play with the sweep over East Mississippi.