EMCC Lions advance to NJCAA Region 23 Baseball Tournament with 9-5 play-in win over Northeast Mississippi

DECATUR — The seventh-seeded Lions of East Mississippi Community College advanced to regional tournament play of the 2026 NJCAA Region 23 Baseball Tournament with a 9-5 victory over 10th-seeded Northeast Mississippi during Monday's play-in game at the Clark/Gay Baseball Complex in Decatur. EMCC moves on to meet nationally second-ranked and regional host East Central Community College during Tuesday's Game 1 of the four-team regional tournament to be played at 2 p.m.

After Northeast opened the scoring on Drew Hollimon's RBI single off EMCC starting pitcher Trace Tingle in the top of the first inning, East Mississippi grabbed a 2-1 lead a frame later. Following consecutive one-out singles by Braxton Whiteside and Jack Willis, Gabe Roberts drove in the first run on a fielder's choice ahead of Hunter Russell's run-scoring sacrifice bunt.

The Lions manufactured two more runs in the third inning off Northeast starting pitcher Matthew Osteen to move ahead 4-1. Similar to EMCC's previous two-run inning, Miles Mitchell and Caidan Bullard opened the frame with back-to-back singles. Jonas Coleman's run-producing sacrifice bunt was followed three batters later by Willis' RBI fielder's choice.  

Northeast knotted the score at 4-4 in the fifth inning on Conner McKnatt's two-out, three-run homer with Kieran Coleman and Brody Winemiller on base via a walk and hit batsman, respectively.

EMCC took control of the game by scoring runs during each of the last three innings. Mitchell's two-run home run in the sixth put the Lions back on top (6-4) to stay.

On the heels of impressive defensive plays by EMCC's Mitchell at shortstop and Whiteside in left field earlier in the game, the game's momentum was momentarily in question during the top of the seventh when Northeast loaded the bases with a walk and two singles off Tingle to begin the inning. After Colin Perrigin entered the game in relief, EMCC's Russell made a running catch on Winemiller's fly ball in foul territory and quickly pivoted from his right field position to make a strong one-hop throw to home plate to get the runner out trying to score from third base in the sacrifice fly attempt. The momentum-swinging double play was followed by Perrigin striking out McKnatt to thwart the Tigers' potential scoring threat. 

More two-out production from EMCC followed in the home half of the seventh inning when Whiteside singled and Willis doubled in front of Nick McCoy's clutch two-run double to extend the lead to 8-4.

After Hollimon's two-out solo home run off Perrigin in the eighth inning made it an 8-5 game, Mitchell got the run right back in the home half of the frame with a solo blast for the game's final run. Mitchell's second homer of the game and 11^th of the season tied him with Bullard for the team lead in home runs.

With at least one hit during all eight team at-bats and scoring runs in five of those innings, the Lions totaled 13 hits in the contest coming from eight different players. Mitchell and Whiteside had three hits apiece for the winners, while Willis added two hits. Mitchell, a third-year sophomore shortstop from Alabaster, Ala., drove in three runs with his pair of homers while also scoring three runs. He also had a single in the third inning.

Tingle improved to 3-5 on the year with his seventh career EMCC win by pitching into the seventh inning. The sophomore left-hander, out of Pascagoula's Resurrection Catholic High School, scattered five hits and four runs over six-plus innings while fanning five and walking three batters. Perrigin picked up his second save of the year by throwing the final three innings in relief. The New Hope High School product allowed just two hits and only one run while striking out four and not allowing a walk.

Tuesday's East Mississippi-East Central matchup will be live-streamed at ECCClive.com/gold beginning at 2 p.m. in Decatur.