EMCC Lions bounce back to claim 6-5 walk-off nightcap win in key doubleheader split with No. 2 Jones College
The home-standing Lions of East Mississippi Community College battled back from a 5-0 nightcap deficit to claim a 6-5 extra-inning, walk-off win and earn a doubleheader split with nationally second-ranked Jones College during Saturday’s MACCC baseball action played at Gerald Poole Field. The Bobcats outlasted EMCC, 20-19, in the opening contest.
April 12, 2026
SCOOBA – The home-standing Lions of East Mississippi Community College battled back from a 5-0 nightcap deficit to claim a 6-5 extra-inning, walk-off win and earn a doubleheader split with nationally second-ranked Jones College during Saturday's MACCC baseball action played at Gerald Poole Field. The Bobcats outlasted EMCC, 20-19, in the opening contest.
On the heels of the nine-inning slugfest that featured 39 total runs scored and 41 combined hits between the two teams, Jones College grabbed the early momentum in the nightcap with a 5-0 lead heading into the home half of the fifth frame of the scheduled seven-inning nightcap. The Bobcats picked up solo runs in the second and third innings before adding three more scores in the fifth frame.
EMCC initially cut into the deficit by getting on the board in the fifth inning on Hunter Russell's run-scoring single off Jones starting pitcher Drew Lambert. The game's momentum swung in favor of the Lions with a four-run sixth inning that knotted the score at 5-5. The game-tying rally began when EMCC loaded the bases with two outs. After plating runs on a walk and hit by pitch by Jack Willis and pinch-hitter Gabe Roberts, respectively, to make it 5-3, Russell's pop fly double into shallow right field scored the tying runs.
Following a seventh inning in which both teams left the bases loaded, third-year sophomore pitcher Jacob Nunn completed his third inning of no-hit shutout relief in the top of the extra frame. The Lions began the home half of the eighth by loading the bases off Jones reliever Reid Gaston. After Roberts was hit by a pitch for the second straight plate appearance, Russell stroked an opposite-field single for his third hit of the game from the nine-hole spot in the batting order. Sam McClinton Jr. walked to load the bases and set up Miles Mitchell's game-winning RBI single to center field that scored pinch-runner Chris Newson from third base.
Russell and Mitchell combined for five of EMCC's seven total hits in the nightcap.
In relief of starting pitcher Caidan Bullard and Ty Harden, Nunn earned his fourth career win and first of the season by throwing three shutout innings without allowing a hit while striking out two and walking a pair. After retiring the side in order when he inherited a leadoff base runner in the sixth inning, he worked out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the seventh with a strikeout and a fly out to left field. The Kosciusko product then induced three more fly ball outs during the extra frame to set up the Lions' offensive heroics in the bottom of the eighth.
In the opener, the Lions owned the lead for most of the first half of the contest. EMCC held five-run leads through two innings (6-1) and again after four frames (11-6). The second inning featured a three-run homer by Ty Wiggins and was capped by Jonas Coleman's two-RBI single. EMCC then batted through the lineup in the fourth frame by taking advantage of five walks allowed by Jones pitching.
The Bobcats' opening-game comeback was fueled by consecutive five-run innings in the sixth and seventh frames. To their credit, the Lions answered each of Jones' five-run innings with multiple runs of their own in both frames. After the visitors went ahead, 14-12, in the top of the sixth inning, EMCC responded in the home half with a pair of runs to knot the score at 14-14. A frame later, both teams sent 10 batters to the plate during their respective at-bats, as the Lions nearly matched Jones' five runs with four runs of their own in the home half of the seventh inning.
With EMCC and Jones combining to use 12 different pitchers during the high-scoring marathon that lasted more than four hours, the Lions briefly tied the score at 19-19 in the bottom of the eighth on Braxton Whiteside's two-out RBI single.
In the ninth, the Bobcats reached EMCC's Colin Perrigin for the go-ahead run on Dylan Champagne's run-scoring single. Freshman right-hander Trevor Hodges, a Mississippi College transfer, locked down Jones' opening-game victory by retiring the Lions in order to pick up his seventh victory of the season in eight decisions.
Coleman, a Starkville product, paced EMCC's 14-hit team effort in the opener by going 5-for-6 at the plate with five runs batted in and three runs scored. McClinton, Bullard and Wiggins each added two hits apiece for the Lions, who scored in every inning but the ninth.
Staying even in conference play on the year with Saturday's key doubleheader split against No. 2 Jones College, head coach Brett Kimbrel's EMCC Lions (15-26, 9-9 MACCC) will hit the road for a pair of league twin bills this coming week. Following a Tuesday (April 14) trek to Clarksdale to take on Coahoma, EMCC will travel to Raymond on Saturday (April 18) to meet Hinds.