EMCC Lions earn doubleheader baseball split at Co-Lin with first conference win

WESSON — Cade Davis' four-hit complete game and a pair of Rye McGlothin homers lifted visiting East Mississippi Community College to a doubleheader split at Copiah-Lincoln during Saturday's MACCC baseball action played at Walter R. Sullivan Field.  EMCC's 6-1 nightcap victory followed a 6-5 setback to the home-standing Wolves in the opening game.

Following the Lions' narrow loss in the opener, McGlothin got the nightcap started with a two-run blast in the opening frame.  EMCC then added solo tallies in the third and fourth innings on Wesley Sides' two-out RBI single and Al Dumas' run-producing sacrifice bunt, respectively, to increase the lead to 4-0.

An inning later, McGlothin hit a solo shot for his team-leading fifth home run and second two-homer game of the year.  The New Hope product previously hit a pair of homers in EMCC's 12-2 home win over Mississippi Delta on Feb. 23.

While McGlothin was doing damage at the plate, Davis was dominant on the mound for the Lions.  The freshman right-hander from Ripley kept the Wolves off the scoreboard until the sixth inning when an unearned run prevented the shutout.  Davis scattered four hits, while striking out eight and walking three over seven innings, to improve to 2-1 on the year with the complete-game victory.

McGlothin and Sides paced EMCC's seven-hit team effort with two hits apiece in the second game.

The Lions also grabbed the early advantage in the nine-inning opening contest when Zack Griffith's first-inning fly ball was misplayed in the outfield.  Blayze Berry then followed with a two-run double to stake EMCC starting pitcher Dakota Boney to a 3-0 lead.

Co-Lin responded by scoring two runs in the second and third innings off Boney to move ahead, 4-3.  The Wolves then added solo runs later in the game by taking advantage of Reed Barlow's leadoff triple in the fourth and Cade Lowery's leadoff double in the sixth to increase the margin to 6-3.

The Lions mounted a rally in the top of the eighth to chase Co-Lin starting pitcher Caleb Rutledge.  After McGlothin's two-run single cut the deficit to 6-5, reliever Tucker Jones finished up by retiring the Lions in order in the ninth to preserve the one-run victory for the Wolves.

Dumas collected two of EMCC's six hits in the opening game.

Coach Brett Kimbrel's 8-6 EMCC Lions will travel to Fulton to take on the Indians of Itawamba during a Wednesday doubleheader before returning home to play host to the Southwest Mississippi Bears on Saturday (March 13).  First pitch for the EMCC-Southwest twin bill is set for 2 p.m. at Gerald Poole Field on the Scooba campus.