Walk-off homer and 12-run inning power EMCC to home baseball sweep over Southwest

SCOOBA — The East Mississippi Community College Lions picked up their first conference baseball sweep of the 2021 season with a 7-6 walk-off win in the opening game and a 12-1 run-rule nightcap victory over Southwest Mississippi during Tuesday's MACCC doubleheader action played at Gerald Poole Field.

During the nine-inning opening contest, the home-standing Lions battled back from an early 4-0 deficit following Presley Hall's three-run homer off EMCC starting pitcher Will Long in the first inning.

While taking advantage of 13 walks and three hit batsmen issued by a trio of Southwest pitchers through the first six innings, EMCC cut the deficit to 4-3 with a run in the first inning on Austin Beech's RBI single and two more scores in the second when Braxton Lee and Al Dumas were consecutively hit by pitches with the bases loaded after three straight walks.

The Lions then went ahead 6-4 during the middle innings when eight combined walks contributed to two more EMCC runs in the fifth and another tally a frame later.

After EMCC pitching held the Bears scoreless for seven consecutive innings following the four-run first, the visitors knotted the score at 6-6 in the top of the ninth with solo home runs by Mason Barker and pinch-hitter Braydon Coffey off EMCC reliever Dakota Boney.

The game wasn't deadlocked for long, however, as Mississippi State transfer Blayze Berry led off the bottom of the ninth with a first-pitch, walk-off home run off SMCC reliever Ilich Purcell.  Berry's solo blast was his second homer of the year and only the third hit of the opening game for the Lions as a team.

Berry's game-winner proved to be the offensive spark the Lions needed for the scheduled seven-inning nightcap.  During a rain shower that eventually caused a weather delay, the first nine EMCC batters reached base and later scored during their first time through the lineup in the first inning.  Highlighting the Lions' 12-run opening frame were a three-run homer by Wesley Sides followed by Beau Bates' grand slam four batters later.  Dumas, Lee and Reiley Tate all added doubles during the initial inning.

Meanwhile on the mound for the Lions, Cade Davis settled down nicely after the Lions' 12-run offensive explosion in the opening frame.  After allowing a pair of two-out hits and a run in the first, Davis retired the next 12 batters he faced, including eight strikeouts, to cruise to the complete-game victory.  The freshman right-hander from Ripley allowed just three hits and did not issue a walk during his five innings of work to improve to 4-1 on the season.

EMCC's nine hits in the nightcap were evenly spread out among the starters with Bates and Beech leading the way with two hits apiece for the winners.

Coach Brett Kimbrel's 12-12 EMCC Lions, 5-11 in conference play, are scheduled to play host to the Tigers of Northeast Mississippi during a Thursday doubleheader on the Scooba campus.  First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at EMCC's Gerald Poole Field.