EMCC Lions register second straight conference sweep with 7-1, 11-6 home baseball wins over Delta
The Lions of East Mississippi Community College closed out their successful week-long baseball home stand by sweeping Mississippi Delta, 7-1 and 11-6, during Tuesday’s MACCC action played at EMCC’s Gerald Poole Field.
SCOOBA – The Lions of East Mississippi Community College closed out their successful week-long baseball home stand by sweeping Mississippi Delta, 7-1 and 11-6, during Tuesday's MACCC action played at EMCC's Gerald Poole Field.
With their second straight conference sweep, the Lions extended their baseball winning streak to five consecutive games. EMCC's current streak began with a 10-8 nightcap victory at Holmes and continued with subsequent home doubleheader sweeps over Southwest Mississippi (8-2 & 3-1) and Delta.
In Tuesday's nine-inning opener, the Lions provided their pitchers with all the run support they would collectively need in the first frame. Extra-base hits by leadoff batter Colin Boyd and Miles Mitchell keyed a three-run opening inning. EMCC added another run a frame later.
The margin stayed at 4-0 through the middle innings until the Lions manufactured three more runs during a sixth inning that was highlighted by run-scoring singles from Logan Flaskamp and Sam McClinton Jr.
EMCC's shutout attempt was thwarted in the ninth inning when the visiting Trojans reached reliever Elijah Young for a solo score.
In relief of starting pitcher Stephen Eakes, freshman right-hander Conner Lewis picked up his first collegiate win by scattering three singles and striking out four batters over 3.2 innings of work. Colin Perrigin and Jon Reynolds also saw mound duty for the Lions in the opener.
In the seven-inning nightcap against Delta, the Lions plated solo runs in the first, third and fourth innings to take a 3-0 lead midway through the contest.
Most of the second game's scoring came during the final three frames. After the Trojans took a brief 4-3 lead in the top of the fifth inning with the aid of two walks and a pair of hit batsmen, EMCC countered with a five-run home half of the frame. Caidan Bullard's second of three RBI doubles in the game drove home the first two EMCC runs in the fifth. Braxton Whiteside later followed with a pinch-hit, two-run single that capped the inning and put the Lions back on top 8-4.
An inning later, another run-scoring double by Bullard and Flaskamp's RBI single highlighted a three-run sixth to extend EMCC's lead to 11-4.
Delta managed to score twice in the final frame on two-out, run-producing singles by Luke Sims and D.J. Temple to round out the day's scoring.
Bullard, a sophomore first baseman out of DeSoto Central High School, reached base during all four plate appearances in the nightcap with his trio of RBI doubles and a walk. He drove in four runs and scored three times in addition to stealing a base in the contest.
EMCC sophomore left-hander Trace Tingle pitched effectively into the fifth inning before the Trojans briefly took the lead. Third-year sophomore southpaw Garrett Pound picked up the win and improved to 2-1 on the year, while fellow third-year pitcher Jacob Nunn earned his second save of the season.
Head coach Brett Kimbrel's EMCC Lions will take their 5-1 conference mark (11-18 overall) to Poplarville on Saturday (March 21) to face the third-ranked Pearl River Wildcats. First pitch for Saturday's baseball doubleheader is set for 2 p.m. at PRCC's Dub Herring Park.
