East Mississippi sweeps at Holmes with slugfest win and shutout victory in MACJC baseball action
The East Mississippi Community College baseball team got into the win column in conference play in dramatic fashion by pulling out a 12-11, extra-inning win during Tuesday's opening game at Holmes Community College. The Lions then completed the road doubleheader sweep at Charlie Donald Field in impressive style while riding the right arm of freshman Alex Knight's 5-0 shutout victory over the Bulldogs in the nightcap.
GOODMAN – The East Mississippi Community College baseball team got into the win column in conference play in dramatic fashion by pulling out a 12-11, extra-inning win during Tuesday's opening game at Holmes Community College. The Lions then completed the road doubleheader sweep at Charlie Donald Field in impressive style while riding the right arm of freshman Alex Knight's 5-0 shutout victory over the Bulldogs in the nightcap.
The day's opening contest featured an old-fashioned pitching duel between EMCC's Layton Dill and Holmes' Cody Greer through the first two-thirds of the scheduled nine-inning contest. Heading into the seventh inning, the Bulldogs owned a 4-2 lead with both starting pitchers still on the mound.
EMCC's Whitt Davis got the offensive fireworks started by leading off the seventh with a solo blast – his second homer of the year – to make it a 3-2 contest. After the next five Lion batters also reached base safely, including a two-run double by freshman catcher Mike Farnell, sophomore Taylor Stafford capped the seven-run frame with a three-run homer off reliever Michael Harrison for his second home run of the game and third of the season. The New Hope High School product had earlier belted a solo homer in the first inning.
The visitors' 9-4 lead quickly dissipated, however, as an infield error, three walks and a pair of hit-batsmen contributed to a six-run showing in the bottom half of the seventh to put Holmes back on top by a 10-9 score. The drama was far from over, however.
The Lions reclaimed the lead, 11-10, by scoring twice in the top of the eighth. Marcus Ragan's run-scoring double was followed by a two-out, RBI-bunt single from Jo McNabb.
In the bottom of the eighth, Whitt Davis moved over from third base and inherited a pair of baserunners with one out to become EMCC's fifth pitcher of the contest. The Huntsville, Alabama native worked out of a bases-loaded jam with a pair of strikeouts in the eighth to temporarily secure the lead. After the Bulldogs knotted the score at 11-11 on Dieter Sloan's two-out RBI double in the bottom of the ninth, Davis fanned Corbin Jamison to send the game into an extra inning.
Farnell opened the 10th by drawing a walk from Holmes reliever Peyton Sullivan to begin the winning rally. Following a groundout and an intentional walk, Stewart Ball doubled to right field to bring home courtesy runner Antoine Watts with the go-ahead run.
Davis came back out for the bottom of the 10th and fanned two more Bulldog batters to give him six strikeouts in 2.2 innings of relief work. The freshman right-hander picked up his second victory of the season.
With everyone in EMCC's starting lineup getting at least one hit during the team's 14-hit effort, sophomore Emil Ellis had a single, double and triple in six trips to the plate. Stafford and Farnell added two hits apiece and combined for six RBIs in the opener.
Farnell and Ellis came up big again for the Lions in the nightcap, as the tandem combined to drive in all five runs on four hits. That gave Knight all the run production he would need in his first collegiate start on the mound.
Ellis, who was 5-for-9 at the plate for the day, supplied the early offense with run-producing hits in the first and third innings of the second contest. Farnell then capped a 4-for-7 doubleheader effort by delivering a two-run blast – his second of the year – in the fifth and an RBI double in the seventh.
Meanwhile, Knight was dominant on the hill for the Lions. The freshman right-hander from reigning Class 3A state champion Sumrall High School scattered four hits with eight strikeouts and only one walk during his complete-game shutout. In picking up his first collegiate victory, Knight threw 101 total pitches over the seven innings, including 73 for strikes while throwing first-pitch strikes to 20 of the 29 batters he faced during the contest.
Coach Chris Rose's East Mississippi Lions, now 6-16 overall and 2-4 in conference play, travel to Wesson to take on Copiah-Lincoln Community College in a 2 p.m. Friday doubleheader.