Booneville, Miss. – After falling, 9-5 in game one, Itawamba Community College's JW Armistead's standout pitching performance led the Indians to a 3-0 game two win and the doubleheader split with Northeast Mississippi Community College Wednesday.
Game 1: Tigers 9, Indians 5
The Indians (19-8, 7-5 MACCC) struck first in game one, but a Northeast five run inning and nine Indians left on bases gave the Tigers the 9-5 win.
Will Verdung (Corinth) gave the Indians an early 1-0 lead with his run-scoring single in the opening frame, but the Tigers answered with two runs in the bottom half to take a 2-1 lead.
The Indians had a chance to regain the lead in the second but left the bases loaded and left another runner on in the third. However, the Tigers extended their lead in the bottom of the third scoring five runs highlighted by a three-run home run.
Trailing 7-1, Bo Rock (Amory) scored on a ground out in the fourth and Eli Hancock (Houston) singled in a run in the sixth to cut the lead to 7-3.
The Tigers would answer with a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to stretch the lead out to 9-3.
In the eighth, Drew Capobianco (Saltillo) doubled to drive in two run and cut the lead to four, 9-5, once again, but the Indians were unable to plate another run, dropping game one.
Game 2: Indians 3, Tigers 0
Armistead made sure the Indians split the doubleheader as he threw a complete game, three hit shutout in the nightcap. The right hander from Mooreville struck out 12 Tigers and currently leads the conference with 51 strikeouts.
While Armistead was handling the Tigers' offense, the Indians took advantage of a throwing error and a passed ball to plate two runs and take a 2-0 lead.
Jackson Lee (Calhoun City) singled in a run in the fifth to extend the lead to 3-0, that was more than enough for Armistead to close out the game and secure the split.
Armistead improves to 4-1 this season.
The Indians will host Southwest Mississippi Community College Saturday for a conference doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. The games will be available on LetsGoICCTV.com/red, and fans making the trip to Fulton are encouraged to travel to the game via the Access Road due to the Redlands Festival downtown.
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