EMCC Lions notch third conference baseball sweep with 15-11, 11-6 home wins over Meridian

SCOOBA – The Lions of East Mississippi Community College recorded their third conference sweep of the season with 15-11 and 11-6 home victories over Meridian Community College during Saturday's MACCC baseball action played at EMCC's Gerald Poole Field.

The Lions banged out a total of 27 hits and took advantage of 22 bases on balls allowed by MCC pitching to score a total of 26 runs on the day while improving to 7-5 in conference play for the season.

In the nine-inning opening game, EMCC scored in all but the opening frame to mount a 13-4 lead after seven innings before outlasting the visitors late in the contest. The Eagles' only lead of the contest was a short-lived 3-1 advantage after they scored three runs in the top of the third off EMCC starting pitcher Evan Hilliard.

The Lions promptly answered with three runs of their own in the home half of the third inning to regain the lead for good. Consecutive doubles by Colin Boyd, Miles Mitchell and Caidan Bullard to begin the frame were part of the 14 extra-base hits that EMCC had in the opening contest, including nine doubles. The Lions also had two triples and three homers in the opener.

During their string of 12 consecutive innings of scoring at least one run during the doubleheader, the Lions continued to extend their opening-game lead with Bullard's three-run homer – his sixth of the year – in the fourth inning followed by Ty Wiggins' three-run blast – his first collegiate home run – two frames later. Starkville product Jonas Coleman added a leadoff homer in the seventh inning for his second home run of the season.

The Eagles made things interesting late in the contest by scoring three runs in the eighth inning and adding four more scores the next frame to cut EMCC's lead to four runs.

With all nine starting batters hitting safely with at least one extra-base hit, the Lions set season highs by scoring 15 runs on 17 hits in the opening game. Six players had multiple hits, led by Boyd and Braxton Whiteside with three hits apiece. Mitchell, Bullard, Coleman, and Logan Flaskamp all added two hits each.

Meridian grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the seven-inning nightcap on Chris Fox's solo blast off Bullard in the first frame. The Lions responded in the home half of the inning by hitting through the lineup and scoring four runs.

EMCC maintained the lead the rest of the way in the second game by scoring in each of the first five innings. Along with adding 10 more hits, including six for extra bases, in the nightcap, the Lions benefitted from 14 walks surrendered by six Meridian pitchers to build a 11-4 lead after five innings.

Bullard, an Olive Branch native, was the Lions' two-way standout in the nightcap by adding three more extra-base hits along with pitching into the final inning. The DeSoto Central High School product had an RBI triple and a pair of doubles at the plate, while scattering six hits with six strikeouts and two walks over six-plus innings to earn his third career pitching win for EMCC. For the day against Meridian, Bullard belted his eighth career home run to go along with a triple and three doubles in 11 plate appearances.

Boyd, out of West Point's Oak Hill Academy, was 5-for-9 on the day after adding a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly in the second game. He had a triple, two doubles and a walk in the opening contest versus the Eagles.

After hitting a pair of doubles and walking three times with three runs scored in the opener, Mitchell added a three-run homer – his fifth of the year – in the third inning of the nightcap.

Head coach Brett Kimbrel's EMCC Lions (13-22, 7-5 MACCC) will continue their current baseball home stand by playing host to the Indians of Itawamba Community College on Tuesday (March 31). First pitch is set for 2 p.m. on the Scooba campus.