EMCC Lions earn baseball split with Copiah-Lincoln in twin bill played at Northeast Lauderdale High School

MERIDIAN – The East Mississippi Community College Lions earned their fourth consecutive baseball doubleheader split by rebounding with a 5-4 nightcap win over Copiah-Lincoln Community College after dropping an 11-9 decision in Tuesday's first game played at Glynn Frazier Field at Northeast Lauderdale High School.  

In Tuesday's opening contest, the Wolfpack jumped on EMCC starter Austin Braddock for six runs in the first inning.  An outfield error was sandwiched between home runs by Co-Lin's Gabe Wilson and Jonathan Santana.  The visitors capped their six-run outburst with run-scoring doubles by Cole Page and Ryan Young.

The Lions got one of those runs back in their half of the first with Colton Caver's first collegiate home run coming off Co-Lin starter Tyler Simmons.  Meanwhile, EMCC freshman right-hander Conner Burton did an admirable job holding the Wolfpack in check during his five-plus innings of relief work.  The former East Webster High School product limited Co-Lin to just one hit from the second inning through the sixth to keep the Lions within reach.

Offensively, EMCC manufactured its second run in the fourth when Austin Braddock led off the frame with a single, advanced into scoring position via a passed ball and balk before scoring on Philip Tice's sacrifice fly to left field.  Still trailing 6-2, the Lions' bats came alive in the sixth.  Jump-started by the first two runs of the inning scoring on balks, EMCC later added RBI doubles from former Oak Grove High School standouts Drew Standland and Tyler Odom.  A two-out infield throwing error by Co-Lin also paved the way for Chase Reeves' two-run single to cap a seven-run inning and give the Lions a 9-6 advantage heading to the final inning.

That's when their normally effective bullpen didn't come through for the Lions on this occasion.  With the inning further complicated by a pair of costly EMCC infield throwing errors, relievers Nick Brooks and Brock McKnight combined to surrender five runs in the top of the seventh to account for the final outcome.  The big blow in Co-Lin's comeback effort was Page's two-run home run off Brooks.  After opening the season with two relief wins and three saves in EMCC's first five victories of the year, McKnight took the loss for the Lions though only facing three batters.  Caleb Dugas' RBI double to deep center field off McKnight proved to be the game-winner for Copiah-Lincoln.

The Lions rebounded to take an early 5-0 lead in the nightcap off Co-Lin starter Julio Rivera.  A run-producing single by Odom and an RBI groundout from Braddock made it 2-0 in the first.  The next frame, three walks and a wild pitch by Rivera along with an infield throwing error led to three more EMCC runs.

Meanwhile, the Lion pitching trio of Tyler Jones, Landon Meadows and Odom limited the Wolfpack to just one hit in the second game – a third-inning RBI single by Dugas off Jones.  Co-Lin also plated another unearned run that same inning to cut the deficit to 5-2.  The visitors kept chipping away at EMCC's lead, producing two more unearned runs with solo tallies in the fifth and sixth innings to make it a one-run contest.

Odom came out of the bullpen to get the final four outs and notch his first save of the year.  Jones, a sophomore right-hander from Columbus' Victory Christian Academy, picked up his first win of the year and third of his collegiate career by allowing three unearned runs on just the one hit, with five strikeouts and three walks, in 4.2 innings of mound work.

Offensively, the Lions had 16 total hits on the afternoon – 10 in the opener and six in the nightcap.  Caver, Odom and Braddock all enjoyed two-hit outings in the first game, while Standland led the way with two singles in Game 2.

After playing at five different ballparks to open the season while awaiting the completion of their outfield fence reconfiguration project on the Scooba campus, head coach Chris Rose's 6-4 EMCC Lions are anticipating their long-awaited home opener to take place this Saturday afternoon against Pearl River Community College.  Doubleheader baseball action between the Lions and Wildcats is set to begin at 1 p.m. at EMCC's Gerald Poole Field.