| EMCC Lions complete regular-season sweep of Mississippi Delta with pair of baseball road wins |
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MOORHEAD – The visiting Lions of East Mississippi Community College completed their regular-season baseball sweep of Mississippi Delta by earning 7-4 and 7-3 victories over the home-standing Trojans Wednesday afternoon in MACJC North Division baseball action.
Having also previously swept Delta (7-1 & 8-2) last month in Scooba, the EMCC Lions currently find themselves in a tie for third place with Itawamba in the MACJC’s North Division standings. Now 10-6 in league play and 12-23 overall after a slow 1-18 start to the year, the resurgent Lions have already secured their most division wins in a single season since 2000. While efficiently producing seven runs on nine hits in both games of Wednesday’s doubleheader, the Lions also received stellar pitching performances on the day as both EMCC starters pitched into the sixth innings of the respective contests. “We threw the ball exceptionally well today and battled on the mound against a solid offensive ballclub in Mississippi Delta,” EMCC head coach Chris Rose said. “We had good approaches at the plate all day, which shows signs of maturity for our hitters. We competed out there again today by putting pressure on the defense with our base running, and we made our hits count in clutch situations with runners in scoring position.” In Wednesday’s opener, Tyler Aldridge’s two-out, bases-loaded double in the sixth inning broke open a tight 3-1 contest. A sophomore from Caledonia High School, Aldridge added an RBI-single in EMCC’s two-run fifth inning to give him four runs batted in for the contest. Fellow sophomore Mitch Bohon hit his third home run of the year to highlight his two-hit effort in the opener. The former Oak Hill Academy standout would add his team-leading fourth round-tripper in the nightcap. Freshmen Tyler Bonaventure and Antwan Ratcliff also had two hits apiece for the winners in the opening win. On the mound, freshman left-hander Blake Hutcheson, of Saltillo, scattered seven hits, while striking out four and walking but one, over 5.2 innings of work to raise his record to 3-5 on the season. Sophomore Justin Pritchett stalled a sixth-inning rally by Delta to pick up his initial save of the campaign. In the nightcap, the Lions overcame an early 2-0 deficit with two runs of their own in the second and third frames. The third inning featured back-to-back solo home runs by Aldridge and Bohon to lead off the inning. The homer was Aldridge’s third blast of the year. Offensively in the second contest, freshman Zane Migues went 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBI and a pair of runs scored. Bonaventure collected two more hits in the game to cap his four-hit afternoon. The day’s other pitching gem for EMCC was turned in by sophomore right-hander Will Edwards. The Kosciusko native earned his first victory of the year after four previous hard-luck decisions by allowing only three hits, with four strikeouts and two walks, over 5.2 innings before giving way to Migues and Cole Vaughan. Battling to earn their first postseason appearance since 2004, the EMCC Lions welcome front-running Holmes CC for a key Saturday divisional doubleheader on the Scooba campus. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. at EMCC’s Gerald Poole Field. |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 14 April 2011 ) |
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