No. 17 EMCC run-ruled 12-1 by top-ranked Hinds in opening round of NJCAA Region 23 Baseball Tournament
Making their first regional baseball appearance since 2004, the 17th-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College dropped a 12-1 run-rule decision in six innings to top-ranked and MACJC Champion Hinds Community College during Thursday's opening day of the NJCAA Region 23 Baseball Tournament played at Bengal Stadium on the LSU Eunice campus.
EUNICE, La. – Making their first regional baseball appearance since 2004, the 17th-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College dropped a 12-1 run-rule decision in six innings to top-ranked and MACJC Champion Hinds Community College during Thursday's opening day of the NJCAA Region 23 Baseball Tournament played at Bengal Stadium on the LSU Eunice campus.
In Friday's 3 p.m. elimination game, head coach Chris Rose's 29-17 EMCC Lions will take on the 18th-ranked Northwest Mississippi Rangers, who were run-ruled, 12-0, in five innings by host and second-ranked LSU Eunice during Thursday night's contest. NWCC claimed both MACJC State Tournament meetings with East Mississippi, 9-7 and 10-5, last week in Raymond en route to a runner-up tourney finish to host Hinds.
Having previously swept the Lions in Scooba (8-1, 4-1) back on April 11, the Eagles scored in all but one of their six innings during Thursday's regional rematch. After Hinds plated two-out solo tallies in each of the first two innings, EMCC cut the deficit in half in the top of the third when Drew Standland led off the frame with a hit and later scored on Dylan Vuncannon's run-scoring groundout.
The MACJC's regular-season and postseason tournament champions knocked out EMCC starting pitcher J'Daylin Jackson (7-2) in the third inning when Hinds' Tyler Cox launched a two-run homer to left-center field off the sophomore southpaw. Highlighted by Jonathan Washam's two-run single off JC Redden, the Eagles added three more runs the next frame to move ahead 8-1.
Hinds, last year's NJCAA Division II World Series runners-up, put the tournament opener away by scoring four times in the sixth on a two-run single by Jordan Washam and a game-ending, two-run double by Kyle O'Keefe.
For the contest, Hinds out-hit East Mississippi, 13-6, as the 42-5 Eagles had five players with two hits apiece.
Meanwhile on the mound for Hinds, sophomore right-hander Randy Bell threw a complete-game six-hitter to improve to 12-0 on the campaign. The former Centreville Academy standout struck out five and walked two over the six innings.