EMCC Lions drop baseball decisions to preseason ranked Meridian and East Central

DECATUR – Participating in their second three-team, round-robin baseball event against MACCC competition this season, East Mississippi Community College fell to preseason 13^th-ranked Meridian, 10-7, and to 10^th-ranked East Central, 10-8, in non-conference action played this past Tuesday at the Clark/Gay Baseball Complex on the ECCC campus.

In their opening game of the day, the Lions couldn't overcome five errors en route to dropping a 10-7 seven-inning decision to Meridian. After EMCC grabbed an early 2-1 lead on solo homers by Joseph Scarborough and Aiden Fancher in the second inning, the Eagles countered with three runs in the bottom half of the frame to grab a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the game.

Meridian went ahead, 8-3, after scoring a pair of runs in both the third and fourth innings, before EMCC managed to get back into the contest. Evan Radford's two-run single keyed the Lions' three-run fifth inning and Colin Boyd's two-out RBI single the following frame temporarily made it an 8-7 contest.

Control problems by EMCC relievers contributed to Meridian's two-run sixth inning. After Lion pitching loaded the bases with back-to-back walks and a hit batsman to begin the frame, the Eagles added a pair of insurance runs via consecutive bases-loaded walks.

Radford paced EMCC's nine-hit team effort against Meridian by reaching base in all four plate appearances with a double, two singles and a walk. Fancher was 2-for-3 at the plate, including his second home run of the year.

The unbeaten and host East Central Warriors held the upper hand for the first two-thirds of the scheduled nine-inning nightcap. Starting ECCC pitcher Luke Cooley limited the Lions to just Scarborough's fourth-inning leadoff home run through his six innings of mound work. The sophomore left-hander struck out 10 EMCC batters with only two walks.

The momentum of the game swung in East Mississippi's favor when the Warriors initially went to their bullpen. The Lions batted around during a six-run seventh inning that put the visitors on top, 7-3. EMCC then added a solo run the next inning when Radford scored from second base on a wild pitch.

East Central's late-game comeback began with a two-run eighth inning, highlighted by Mo Little's second home run of the game and Trey Bridges scoring on a pair of wild pitches after doubling.

Defensive miscues by the Lions the following frame enabled East Central to pull even at 8-8. Bridges took advantage of a pair of ninth-inning EMCC infield errors by hitting a two-run triple for his fourth hit of the game and then scoring the game-tying run.

In the extra frame, the visiting Lions had their first two batters reach base with a hit batsman and a walk. The Warriors then called upon their seventh pitcher of the contest, and reliever Parker Martin responded by consecutively retiring the three batters he faced, including two strikeouts, to leave the potential go-ahead run stranded in scoring position.

Feeding off the momentum and with pinch-runner Cyrus Rone on base, East Central's Brady McGee smacked a two-run, walk-off homer off EMCC freshman Luke Sides to keep the home-standing Warriors unbeaten (18-0) on the year and give head baseball coach Neal Holliman his 500^th career win at East Central Community College.

The Lions had 13 hits as a team against ECCC in the nightcap, led by Fancher, Ayden Alsobrooks, Coby Holmes, Gates Gerhart and Zac Butler all with two hits apiece.

Head coach Brett Kimbrel's 13-6 EMCC Lions are scheduled for their final non-conference baseball action of the year by playing host to MACCC foes Jones College and Northeast Mississippi in a three-team, round-robin event to take place March 5 on the Scooba campus. The tripleheader is slated to begin with an EMCC-Jones matchup at 11 a.m., followed by a Jones-Northeast meeting around 2 p.m. and concluding with an EMCC-Northeast nightcap around 5 p.m. at Gerald Poole Field.