EMCC Lions pick up 9-7 win over Shelton State to cap 12-day baseball home stand

SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College's baseball team capped a 12-day home stand by claiming a 9-7 non-conference home win over Shelton State during Monday's action played at Gerald Poole Field.

Monday's nine-inning contest marked the third of four scheduled baseball meetings this season between the Lions and Bucs. A month ago on successive days (Feb. 24-25), the two teams traded 6-4 decisions with EMCC winning on that Friday in Scooba and Shelton State prevailing by the same score the following day in Tuscaloosa. The Lions and Bucs are scheduled to meet again this season (April 24) in Tuscaloosa.

During Monday's rubber match, the home-standing EMCC Lions staked starting pitcher Joe Scarborough to a 3-0 first-inning lead by plating two runs via wild pitches and another on Ethan Medlin's two-out RBI single against Shelton State starting pitcher Jonah Carroll.  

After the Bucs cut the deficit to 3-2 with a pair of two-out, unearned runs in the top of the third off EMCC's Turner Leathers, the Lions got one of the runs back in the home half of the frame when pinch-hitter Carson Gault walked with the bases loaded to bring home Will Crawford, who opened the inning with a single.

The visitors took advantage of three consecutive walks by EMCC pitching to push across three runs and take a 5-4 lead on Jordan Evans' two-run single in the sixth inning. The Bucs added a run a frame later on Christian Pritchett's leadoff homer.

Shelton State's lead would be short-lived, however, as the Lions answered in the home half of the seventh with four runs to move back ahead, 8-6. The big moment in the contest came on Gault's three-run homer off Shelton State reliever Jack Hoppenjans. Evan Radford, EMCC's home run leader on the year with nine, then capped the frame with an RBI triple that plated Ayden Alsobrooks, who had doubled.

The Lions added an insurance run in the eighth inning when another wild pitch brought home Crawford following Medlin's double. The extra run would prove beneficial as the Bucs mounted a two-out rally in the ninth inning. After Wesley Helms' pinch-hit RBI single made it a two-run game, Shelton State loaded the bases on EMCC reliever Austin Garrison. Working his third inning of relief after moving to the mound from his shortstop position, Garrison got Reese Collins to fly out to left field for the game's final out with the potential tying runs in scoring position.

Garrison, out of Gulfport, pitched the final one third of the contest, allowing two runs on four hits with three strikeouts and no walks, to pick up his first victory in three decisions this season.

Offensively, the Lions banged out a dozen hits among eight different players. Medlin led the way with a 3-for-5 outing at the plate, while Gault and Alsobrooks each added two hits apiece for the winners.

Head coach Brett Kimbrel's EMCC Lions (14-16, 2-8 MACCC) look to bounce back from last Saturday's (March 25) home sweep at the hands of fifth-ranked Meridian by resuming conference play with a Wednesday (March 29) road doubleheader against Coahoma. First pitch in Clarksdale is set for 1 p.m.