EMCC’s Evan Radford garners All-MACCC Second Team baseball accolades

JACKSON – East Mississippi Community College's Evan Radford has been chosen to the 2023 All-MACCC Baseball Second Team, as selected by the head baseball coaches of the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference. The 15-member first and second all-conference baseball teams plus eight honorable mention picks were announced Tuesday by the MACCC office.

Radford, a Southern Miss transfer, topped head coach Brett Kimbrel's 2023 EMCC Lions in several offensive categories, including home runs (12), runs batted in (40) and runs scored (36). The Hoover, Alabama native batted .310 on the season in helping lead the 24-26 Lions to their second straight postseason playoff appearance. As EMCC's primary designated hitter, Radford also tied for the club lead with 11 doubles as part of his team-most 24 extra-base hits and 88 total bases. With a club-best .698 slugging percentage for the year, the 6-foot-4 slugger enjoyed a four-game stretch in March when he hit a home run in four straight games during consecutive home doubleheaders against Jones and Holmes.

As a prep senior, Radford helped lead the Hoover High School Buccaneers to a runner-up finish in the 2021 AHSAA Class 7A state baseball playoffs. He also made the 2020 Starnes Media All-South Metro Second Team during his junior season that was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. During the previous two summers, Radford starred for the Hill Country Generals of the Cotton States Baseball League.

Both the 15-member first and second teams of this year's All-MACCC Baseball Team were comprised of four infielders, four outfielders, four pitchers, one catcher and two utility players.

Individual MACCC baseball honors for the 2023 season were awarded to Itawamba's Will Verdung for Player of the Year, Meridian's Cole Boswell for Pitcher of the Year, and East Central's Neal Holliman for Coach of the Year.