EMCC Lions settle for baseball doubleheader split at Southwest Mississippi

SUMMIT – The Lions of East Mississippi Community College couldn't quite secure a road doubleheader sweep over home-standing Southwest Mississippi during Saturday's MACCC baseball action. On the heels of claiming a 9-2 victory over the Bears in the opener, EMCC had to settle for a twin-bill split after letting a 3-0 lead slip away in the nightcap by allowing five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

The Lions scored in five of the nine innings during the opening contest en route to the seven-run victory. Following a first inning in which they plated a pair of runs without getting a hit, the visitors went ahead 4-0 on Jackson Rodgers' two-run homer in the fourth inning.

After adding solo tallies in the fifth and sixth frames on respective RBI singles by Jon Paul Yates and Colin Boyd, the Lions accounted for the final score with a three-run ninth inning that was highlighted by Ayden Alsobrooks' two-run triple followed by Joseph Scarborough's run-scoring double.

Southwest's only offense in the opener came in the fifth and seventh innings on a bases-loaded walk and a run-producing groundout, respectively.

Boyd and Rodgers paced EMCC's eight-hit team effort in the opener with two hits apiece, while Alsobrooks drove in three runs and also walked twice.

Cooper Garrison improved to 5-3 on the year after scattering five hits, with six strikeouts and three walks, over seven innings of mound work for the Lions. Jacob Nunn threw two scoreless innings of relief with three strikeouts.

The scheduled seven-inning nightcap featured an early pitching duel between EMCC's Drake Bayles and Southwest ace Luke Lirette. Following three scoreless innings, the Lions took a 2-0 lead in the fourth when Alsobrooks had an RBI triple and then scored on a wild pitch. Two frames later, Alsobrooks smacked his third triple of the day and NJCAA-leading eighth of the year to drive in Yates and make it a 3-0 contest.

Bayles pitched into the seventh inning with the three-run lead for the Lions but ran into some difficulty to begin the final frame. Following a pair of singles by Southwest and an EMCC infield error, he was relieved by Brandon King. After the Bears pushed across their first two runs of the game, Cody Presley delivered a game-winning, three-run homer off King to salvage the doubleheader split with EMCC.

Head coach Brett Kimbrel's EMCC Lions (27-16, 13-9 MACCC) are scheduled to travel to Senatobia to take on Northwest Mississippi on Wednesday (April 17) before playing host to Copiah-Lincoln on Saturday (April 20).