| EMCC baseball team posts first division wins with home sweep of Coahoma |
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.jpg "Image") Preseason third-team NJCAA All-American Nathan Peden went 3-for-4, including two doubles and his fourth home run of the year, to help lead the Lions to a home doubleheader sweep (9-2 and 11-5) over North Division foe Coahoma Saturday afternoon on the Scooba campus. Though managing to bang out a dozen total hits - six each game - during the twin bill, East Mississippi also took advantage of 15 bases on balls and three hit batsmen surrendered by the Coahoma pitching staff. Individually, preseason third-team NJCAA All-American Nathan Peden led EMCC’s hitters on the day going 3-for-4 with four runs scored and four runs batted in, including a double in each game and a home run in the nightcap. A former standout at Northeast Lauderdale, Peden got things going in the opener with an RBI double in the first inning. After the Lions plated a pair of runs in the second and another in the third, they benefitted from six Coahoma walks and a hit batsman to push across four more runs in the fourth inning. Another EMCC tally in the sixth and a pair of Coahoma runs in the top of the seventh made it a 9-2 final. Freshman starter Tyler Richardson of West Lauderdale improved his record to 2-4 on the year by allowing three hits in 2 2/3 scoreless innings of work. Freshman Cody Pounders and sophomore Drake Gregory, both of New Hope, worked the final 4 1/3 innings of hitless baseball for East Mississippi. In the nightcap with the visiting Tigers leading, 4-3, Peden smacked his team-leading fourth home run of the season – a two-run clout – and freshman Brandon Kiewel had a two-out, two-run single to account for a four-run third inning and give EMCC a 7-4 lead. Highlighted by Billy Beard’s two-run single, the Lions plated four more runs in the sixth inning to close out the 11-5 final. Freshman left-hander Derek Beach of Heidelberg scattered eight hits, while striking out three and giving up two walks, over six innings to move to 2-1 on the season. Gregory retired Coahoma in order in the seventh to complete the doubleheader sweep. Now 6-23 overall and 2-4 in North Division play after snapping their 10-game losing skid with Saturday’s pair of wins over Coahoma, head coach Tony Montgomery’s Lions stay at home to play host to divisional rival Itawamba Tuesday afternoon in a twin bill beginning at 1 p.m. at EMCC’s Gerald Poole Field. |
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 22 March 2009 ) |
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