Alex Knight's walk-off homer lifts EMCC Lions to nightcap win and DH split with Southern Union State

LIVINGSTON, Ala. – Alex Knight's walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh lifted East Mississippi Community College to a 3-2 nightcap win and a baseball doubleheader split with Southern Union State Community College Tuesday afternoon at Tartt Field on the University of West Alabama campus.  EMCC was shut out in the opener, 5-0, by the visiting Bison.

After SUSCC had seemingly gained the momentum after tying the contest at 2-2 with solo runs in the sixth and seventh innings, the nightcap appeared to be heading to extra innings with the Lions' first two batters both flying out to begin the bottom of the seventh.  That's when Knight, a standout on Sumrall High School's Class 3A state championship club a year ago, deposited Cody Willingham's 2-2 offering over the left-centerfield fence to give the Lions a welcomed doubleheader split.

Riding the effective five-inning pitching effort by freshman left-hander Chance Witt, the Lions grabbed a 2-0 lead in the nightcap with a pair of runs in the fourth inning.  Oak Hill Academy product Joseph Caskey led off the frame with a double down the left-field line and was moved over to third on Andrew White's sacrifice bunt.  Jo McNabb drove home EMCC's first run of the day with a line drive to centerfield.  He then advanced two bases to third on an errant pickoff attempt before being promptly delivered home on Marcus Ragan's RBI single to right-center.

Witt, from Pontotoc High School, gave up just four singles with three strikeouts and two walks over five innings before giving way to the bullpen.  The Bison cut the deficit in half with a solo tally in the sixth off EMCC relievers Ryder Davis and JC Redden.  Sophomore closer Jay Booth then took the mound in the seventh for a save opportunity.  The Florence native walked his first batter and pinch runner John Michael Reed later came around for the game-tying score on successive one-out singles by Logan Moseley and Javier Lopez.  Booth did manage to keep the game tied and promptly benefitted from Knight's game-winning heroics to pick up the pitching victory.

Following his 2-for-4 effort with a double and a single in the opener, McNabb had two more hits in the second contest for EMCC.

Though they out-hit Southern Union State, 7-5, in the first game, the Lions couldn't make up for one bad inning.  Two infield errors, two walks by EMCC starting pitcher Chance Riley and a timely two-run triple down the right-field line by SUSCC's Reed in the second inning plated all five runs for the game's only scoring. 

In relief of Riley, Lion sophomore right-hander Layton Dill kept the visitors in check the rest of the contest by allowing just three singles with two strikeouts and only one walk over the game's final 5.2 innings.

However, the Lions couldn't manage to push across a run off 6-foot-6 right-hander Cooper Criswell, who went the distance in the opener with seven strikeouts and only one walk.  A lack of timely hitting in the opener also resulted in 10 EMCC runners being left on base, including stranding the bases loaded with one out in the fifth after three straight singles by McNabb, Ragan and Taylor Stafford.

As they continue to play away from the Scooba campus while their home baseball facility undergoes repairs caused by last month's tornado, head coach Chris Rose's 3-9 East Mississippi Lions will next take on Bishop State Community College in a 4:30 p.m. Saturday doubleheader at Sumrall High School near Hattiesburg.  Current EMCC freshmen Knight, Drake Pace and Landon White were prep teammates on last year's MHSAA Class 3A state championship team for the Sumrall Bobcats.  East Mississippi then travels to Tuscaloosa for a 1 p.m. Sunday twin-bill at Shelton State Community College.