EMCC Lions set for conference baseball road trips to Holmes and Copiah-Lincoln this week
As they await completion of final repairs to their home baseball facility caused by last month's tornado, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College will continue MACJC action away from the Scooba campus this week with scheduled road conference doubleheaders at Holmes and Copiah-Lincoln on Tuesday and Friday, respectively. Game times for EMCC baseball doubleheaders this week are set for 2 p.m. in Goodman and Wesson.
SCOOBA – As they await completion of final repairs to their home baseball facility caused by last month's tornado, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College will continue MACJC action away from the Scooba campus this week with scheduled road conference doubleheaders at Holmes and Copiah-Lincoln on Tuesday and Friday, respectively. Game times for EMCC baseball doubleheaders this week are set for 2 p.m. in Goodman and Wesson.
In a pair of spring break doubleheaders originally scheduled to be played at EMCC's Gerald Poole Field prior to the facility's outfield fence being damaged during an EF2 tornado that struck the Scooba campus on Feb. 2, head coach Chris Rose's EMCC Lions opened their MACJC baseball slate last week by dropping twin-bills to Mississippi Delta and Jones County. Last Wednesday at Jackson's Smith-Wills Stadium, East Mississippi was swept, 8-1 and 13-0, by the MDCC Trojans. This past Saturday in Ellisville, the Lions fell to the league-leading JCJC Bobcats, 12-2 and 7-2.
In Saturday's first game at Community Bank Park, the home-standing Jones Bobcats turned four first-inning walks and a hit-batsman issued by EMCC starting pitcher Chance Riley into an early 4-0 lead. Facilitated by a pair of Lion errors in the fifth frame, JCJC doubled the lead to 8-0 before the visitors could get on the scoreboard.
The Lions turned the tables to take advantage of two Jones errors and three bases on balls in the top of the seventh to push across two runs without the aid of a base hit. However, in the bottom half of the inning, Erick Hoard's walk-off, three-run blast – his second homer of the game – off EMCC reliever Ben Smith lifted the Bobcats to the run-rule victory in the scheduled nine-inning opener.
During the nightcap at Jones County, the Lions staked starting pitcher Chance Witt to an early 2-0 lead on consecutive two-out, run-scoring singles by sophomores Jo McNabb and Taylor Stafford in the second inning. EMCC's brief lead didn't last long, as the Bobcats came back a frame later to plate three two-out runs of their own, including RBI doubles from Tanner Huddleston and Jonathan Parker, to reclaim the lead for good.
Highlighted by a two-run homer by Shelton Wallace, Jones County followed with three more scores in the fourth and another insurance run in the sixth inning to account for the 7-2 final. Meanwhile, JCJC's Tyler Spring, in relief of starting pitcher Logan Robbins, entered the nightcap with the bases loaded and two outs in the third. The freshman right-hander promptly got out of the inning to end the threat and then continued to hold the Lions scoreless over the final four innings to pick up the victory and complete the sweep for Jones County.
East Mississippi, 4-16 overall and 0-4 in MACJC play entering this week's action, is slated to travel to both Coahoma (March 30) and Meridian (April 5) during the coming weeks before finally making their scheduled home season debut on Saturday, April 9, against East Central Community College. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Gerald Poole Field on the Scooba campus.