EMCC Lions post road doubleheader baseball sweep at Mississippi Delta
The Lions of East Mississippi Community College recorded their second conference doubleheader sweep of the baseball season with 9-2 and 8-2 road victories over Mississippi Delta during Wednesday’s MACCC action played in Moorhead.
MOORHEAD – The Lions of East Mississippi Community College recorded their second conference doubleheader sweep of the baseball season with 9-2 and 8-2 road victories over Mississippi Delta during Wednesday's MACCC action played in Moorhead.
The pair of victories over the Trojans raise EMCC's overall baseball record to 22-22 on the season. Battling for one of 10 available spots in the upcoming postseason playoffs, the Lions are scheduled to play at Southwest Mississippi on Saturday (April 26) before closing out their regular-season baseball slate this coming Tuesday (April 29) by playing host to Holmes at Gerald Poole Field on the Scooba campus.
Earlier in the week in Moorhead, the Lions jumped out to early 3-0 leads during both games against Mississippi Delta. In the opener, EMCC scored a run in the first inning on Miles Mitchell's sacrifice fly and added two more scores the following frame on Cooper Bates' two-run single.
After the Trojans reached EMCC starting pitcher Evan Hilliard for a solo run in the home half of the second inning, the Lions batted around to score four runs in the third to move ahead 7-1. Bates added another RBI single in the frame.
Following three scoreless frames during the middle portion of the nine-inning opener, EMCC increased the margin to 9-1 on Luke Sides' third home run of the year in the seventh inning with a man aboard. Delta got one of those runs back in the bottom of the frame on John Barajas' two-out solo home run.
Josh King paced EMCC's 12-hit team effort in the opening game with a 3-for-5 outing at the plate. Bates, Hugh LeMasters and Jayson Smith Jr. each added two hits apiece for the Lions.
Hilliard, out of Saraland, Ala., improved his record to 4-3 on the year with his second complete game of the season. The freshman right-hander scattered seven hits with seven strikeouts and just one walk while throwing 123 pitches over the nine innings.
In the seven-inning nightcap, EMCC's 3-0 lead came in the opening frame on four straight hits. Caiden Chain's one-out double was followed by consecutive singles from LeMasters, King and Bates.
The Lions broke open a tight 3-1 contest by batting around during the fifth inning. Sam McClinton's RBI single capped a five-run frame in which three different Delta pitchers combined to issue seven free passes on six walks and a hit batsman.
The Trojans plated another solo run in the home half of the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly to account for the game's final margin.
Though EMCC was limited to just six hits in the nightcap, the Lions did reach base an additional 12 times with 10 bases on balls and two hit batsmen.
Scattering five hits pitching into the seventh inning of game two, EMCC's Otis Brooks III evened his record to 2-2 on the season.