EMCC Lions split home-and-home baseball doubleheaders against Snead State

SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College's baseball team split home-and-home doubleheaders with Snead State this past week with each team bouncing back from lopsided opening-game home setbacks with come-from-behind, one-run nightcap victories. This past Saturday in Boaz, Alabama, EMCC won 15-3 in the opener before falling 4-3 in walk-off fashion to the Parsons in the second game. Two days prior in Scooba, the Lions rebounded from an identical 15-3 home defeat in the series opener to claim a 5-4 comeback win over Snead in the nightcap.

At Snead State's Emmett Plunkett Baseball Field, the visiting Lions used a 10-run explosion in Saturday's opening-game sixth inning to power to a 15-3 victory over the Parsons. Sam McClinton's leadoff home run opened the door for a 16-hit team effort that featured six EMCC players with multiple hits.

Sophomores Hugh LeMasters, Jackson Rodgers and Ty Murphy each went 3-for-4 at the plate in Saturday's opener with LeMasters and Rodgers driving home four runs apiece. Sophomore Colin Boyd joined McClinton and Gabe Roberts by adding two hits each during EMCC's hit parade.

EMCC starting pitcher Caidan Bullard picked up his first collegiate win by scattering four hits and striking out four over four innings of work. The freshman left-hander out of DeSoto Central High School gave way to Oak Hill Academy product Tyler Harden in the fifth inning with a 5-3 lead prior to the Lions' 10-run sixth inning in which they sent 14 batters to the plate. Big hits in the productive frame included two-run doubles by Rodgers and Boyd as well as two-RBI singles from LeMasters and Murphy.

The hot bats continued for the visiting Lions to begin Saturday's nightcap as they plated three first-inning runs on four hits off Snead starting pitcher Ben Pearman. The Parsons answered by scoring solo runs in each of the first three frames to tie the score at 3-3 after three innings.

EMCC starting pitcher Matthew Birdsong settled in to toss three shutout innings by facing the minimum nine batters through the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. The Madison Central High School product scattered five hits and fanned five through six frames before handing the ball to New Hope's Sam Malone.

The home-standing Parsons took advantage of an inning-opening walk in the seventh to pull out the 4-3 comeback win on Kurt Kizer's game-winning RBI single.

Two days prior at EMCC's Gerald Poole Field, the Lions set the precedent for the weekend by bouncing back from an identical 15-3 loss to Snead State in Thursday's series opener with five runs in their final two at-bats to overcome a 4-0 deficit and produce a 5-4 come-from-behind nightcap victory over the visiting Parsons.

After going through six pitchers, who combined to allow 13 hits, nine walks and seven hit-batsmen, in the opening-game setback, the home-standing Lions were trailing by four runs heading into their fifth-inning at-bat. EMCC's bats began to come alive once Snead State starting pitcher JoJo Garrison left the game after limiting the Lions to just one hit through the first four frames.

Murphy and LeMasters set the table by opening the two-run fifth inning with a double and triple, respectively. The Lions then batted through the lineup the next frame to produce three runs and grab the lead. McClinton's leadoff triple got things started in the sixth, followed by a run-scoring single from Miles Mitchell and a double by Jayson Smith Jr. The go-ahead inning was capped by RBI singles from LeMasters and Jamie Muse Jr.

In relief of EMCC starter Trace Tingle, who pitched into the fifth inning, freshman Evan Hilliard set the Parsons down in order in the top of the seventh to preserve the comeback victory. The Saraland, Alabama native allowed just a fifth-inning single with two strikeouts and two walks over the final three frames to collect his first collegiate pitching win.

At the plate in EMCC's comeback nightcap win, LeMasters led the way with run-producing hits during the key fifth and sixth innings.

Boyd and Greer Manning had two hits apiece in the Lions' series-opening loss to Snead State on Thursday.

Coach Brett Kimbrel's 5-3 EMCC Lions will next venture to Marianna, Florida to take on preseason NJCAA Division I 12^th-ranked and host Chipola College twice along with a pair of neutral-site games against preseason NJCAA Division II sixth-ranked Wallace Community College-Dothan on consecutive days (Feb. 14-15).