EMCC Lions combine for 31 runs in baseball doubleheader sweep at Coahoma

CLARKSDALE – The visiting Lions of East Mississippi Community College recorded a much-needed doubleheader baseball sweep with 15-0, 16-5 victories over Coahoma during Wednesday's MACCC action played at the Eddie C. Smith Sportsplex.

EMCC's 31 total runs on 26 hits for the day combined with Ayden Alsobrooks' complete-game, four-hit shutout in the opener helped give the Lions their first conference doubleheader sweep of the year and raised their overall record to the .500 mark on the season.

The opening contest featured a pitchers' duel between EMCC's Alsobrooks and Coahoma starter Aiden Singley for the first two-thirds of the scheduled nine-inning game. The only runs scored through the first five innings were solo tallies by the Lions in the second and fourth innings.

As Alsobrooks was sailing along by facing only four batters over the minimum during his eight innings of work, the Lions provided more run support during the latter innings. In the sixth, Evan Radford's two-out, three-run blast – his team-leading 10^th home run of the year – made it a 5-0 game. The visitors added another run in the seventh before exploding for nine additional runs a frame later that featured two-run doubles by Radford and Austin Garrison.

While the EMCC offense was generating a season-high 15 runs on 14 hits in the opening contest, Alsobrooks' standout pitching performance grabbed the headlines for the Lions in their first road outing since March 11 following a 12-day home stand. The freshman left-hander out of Starkville Academy allowed only one CCC batter to reach scoring position – a first-inning double by Kaden Wilson – throughout the game while using only 76 pitches (52 strikes) to pick up his first collegiate victory.

Offensively in the opener for the Lions, Radford was 3-for-5 at the plate with six runs batted in and two runs scored. The Southern Miss transfer sandwiched an RBI single between his three-run homer and two-run double. Garrison also had three hits and scored three runs in the shutout win.

The Lions continued their red-hot hitting into the second game by scoring five times in their first at-bat, highlighted by Will Crawford's two-run triple and an RBI double from Jon Paul Yates.

On the way to scoring a new season-high 16 runs in the nightcap – one more than the previous best mark set during the opening game – the Lions also scored multiple runs during the third, fifth and sixth innings. Carson Gault's two-run single was the big hit in the third, while Radford's second two-run double of the day highlighted EMCC's fifth inning.

Pitching in relief of EMCC starter Walker Swearingen, fellow freshman right-hander Landon Scruggs allowed just one run on two hits during his four innings of mound work to earn his third win of the year in as many decisions.

EMCC's 12-hit team effort in the nightcap was led by Crawford, Garrison and Gault with two hits each.

Head coach Brett Kimbrel's EMCC Lions (16-16, 4-8 MACCC) are scheduled to travel to Perkinston for a 2 p.m. Saturday (April 1) doubleheader at Mississippi Gulf Coast.