| EMCC Lions lose lead in nightcap to drop home doubleheader to Northeast |
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.jpg "Image") The EMCC Lions concluded a four-date baseball home stand Friday afternoon against Northeast Mississippi on the Scooba campus. In Friday’s second game on the Scooba campus, East Mississippi utilized five extra-base hits at the plate and benefitted from three early double plays in the field to mount a 6-2 lead going into the seventh inning. Brandon Kiewel’s triple ignited a four-run third for the Lions, as West Lauderdale product Luke Walker followed two batters later with a two-run triple. Heidelberg’s Derek Beach and David Williams of Hernando later plated runs on a single and ground out, respectively. After EMCC increased its margin to four runs with a pair of tallies in the bottom of the sixth, Ty Shirley of New Hope got things going for Northeast in the seventh inning with a leadoff home run to right field. In relief of starter Drake Gregory, who left the mound in the sixth with a sprained left ankle, fellow New Hope product Cody Pounders gave up an additional three runs in the seventh to send the contest into an extra frame. While the Lions could manage but one single off NEMCC reliever Patrick Hinton over the final two innings, the Tigers maintained their momentum with a leadoff triple by Scott Fleming off EMCC reliever Drew Vaughan in the eighth. Shirley followed with a sacrifice fly and Brandon Farley added an insurance run with a two-out RBI single to account for the 8-6 final in the nightcap. In the opener, Northeast reached East Mississippi pitching for seven extra-base hits, including three home runs, to cruise to an 11-3 victory. The Lions did stake starter Corey Luke to an early 2-0 lead with a run-scoring single by Williams in the second and an RBI double by former Northeast Lauderdale standout Nathan Peden an inning later. With NEMCC managing just a bunt single by Shirley through the first three innings off Luke, Daniel Tunnell led off the fourth by ripping a home run down the left-field line to put the Tigers on the scoreboard. Northeast manufactured two more runs in the inning via a wild pitch and another on a passed ball. Taking advantage of stiff winds blowing across the playing field throughout the afternoon, the visitors added three more runs the next frame on back-to-back round-trippers by Tunnell and Farley to move ahead by a 6-2 score. Tunnell’s two-out, two-run homer was his second in as many innings. EMCC’s Peden would cut the deficit in half with his team-leading fifth home run of the season - a line-drive blast to straight-away center field - coming in the home half of the fifth. However, the Tigers would send 10 batters to the plate in the final inning, scoring five runs on five hits, including three doubles and aided by three Lion errors, to put the game out of reach at 11-3. Coach Tony Montgomery’s East Mississippi Lions, now 8-32 overall and 3-12 in North Division play, hit the road next week to take on Coahoma Wednesday before traveling to Fulton to take on sixth-ranked Itawamba in a Saturday twin bill. |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 23 April 2009 ) |
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