EMCC Lions prep for division baseball opener with home doubleheader split against Southeastern (Iowa) CC

SCOOBA – In their final preparation for the start of this week's MACJC North Division baseball slate, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College managed a home doubleheader split with Southeastern (Iowa) Community College Saturday afternoon at EMCC's Gerald Poole Field.  Following an 8-3 win in the opener, EMCC fell 11-6 in the nightcap.

Coach Chris Rose's EMCC Lions, 10-10 on the year during non-division play, begin league competition this week with a pair of road doubleheaders.  The Lions will visit Itawamba Community College for a Tuesday 3 p.m. twin bill at ICC's Eaton Field in Fulton.  EMCC will then travel to Booneville on Saturday to meet Northeast Mississippi Community College in a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Harold T. White Field.

In Saturday's opener against their visitors from West Burlington, Iowa, the Lions bounced back from an early 2-0 deficit courtesy of Hector Viera's two-run homer off EMCC starter Tyler Odom in the third inning.  A leadoff home run by Lion first baseman Trent Waddell – his team-leading third of the year – ignited a four-run fourth inning in which the home team batted around.  The frame also featured a run-scoring sacrifice fly by Nick Brooks and back-to-back RBI singles from Brad Swede and Jake Upton.

After the Blackhawks trimmed the deficit to 4-3 with an unearned run in the fifth, the Lions responded with a pair of runs in both the fifth and sixth frames to account for the 8-3 final. 

EMCC out-hit Southeastern, 8-5, in game one, as Lion right-handers Odom and KC Abney combined to strike out eight batters and issue but one walk.  Improving to 2-0 on the year, Odom went the first four innings, allowing two runs on four hits with three strikeouts and no walks.  Abney closed in fine fashion, giving up only a seventh-inning single to Viera while fanning five batters over the final three innings to earn his second save of the campaign.

The Lions jumped out fast in the nightcap, staking starting pitcher Tyler Jones to an early 3-0 lead in their first at-bat.  Following Colton Caver's run-producing ground out, sophomore Austin Braddock drove home Odom with his second home run of the season.

However, Jones ran into control problems in the third as Southeastern used five hits and a pair of walks to send 10 players to the plate in mounting a seven-run inning.  The Lions would scratch out solo tallies in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings, but the visitors added four more insurance runs in the fifth to force EMCC to play catch-up the rest of the way.

The Lions managed 10 hits in the second game, led by Odom's 3-for-4 effort at the plate.  The former Oak Grove High School product also had an RBI single in the opener.  Braddock, from Heritage Academy, added a run-scoring single in the seventh to give him five runs batted in on the afternoon.