EMCC Lions drop home baseball doubleheader to second-ranked Pearl River

SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College's Lions fell in home baseball doubleheader action to nationally second-ranked Pearl River, 17-5 and 10-6, during Friday's MACCC play contested at EMCC's Gerald Poole Field.

In the scheduled nine-inning opening game, the Wildcats exploded for two big innings and banged out 17 hits on the way to their seven-inning, run-rule victory over EMCC. For the first two innings of the afternoon, though, the home-standing Lions owned the initial momentum with Ty Murphy's three-run homer – his fourth home run of the year – in the home half of the opening frame off PRCC starting pitcher and Mississippi State commit Patrick Spencer Jr.

Two innings later, however, the Wildcats countered with seven runs on seven hits. Caston Thompson's two-run blast off EMCC starting pitcher Chipper Moore ignited PRCC's seven-run frame that also included six singles.

After the Lions briefly got back into the game at 7-5 by scoring solo runs in the fourth and fifth innings while EMCC reliever Sam Malone in turn held PRCC scoreless during the back-to-back frames, the visitors took advantage of four bases and balls and four hit batsmen issued by four different EMCC pitchers during a nine-run sixth inning in which Pearl River sent 14 batters to the plate.

Murphy was EMCC's lone batter with multiple hits in the opener, adding a single and later scoring a run in the fifth inning. Jayson Smith Jr. drove in the Lions' run the previous frame with his fourth-inning single.

Though the runs didn't come in bunches for the visitors in the second contest, the Wildcats scored in five of the game's seven innings. PRCC took an early 4-0 lead with two runs during each of the first two innings off EMCC starting pitcher Trace Tingle.

The Lions trimmed the early deficit to 4-3 by scoring three times in the second inning off PRCC starting pitcher and Auburn commit Jacob Johnson. Smith had his second of three RBI singles on the day in front of Gabe Roberts' two-run single two batters later.  

The Wildcats got those three runs back with a solo run in the third and two more scores the following frame to extend their lead to 7-3 after four innings.

After the Lions temporarily cut the deficit to two runs in the fifth inning on consecutive run-scoring singles by Josh King and Smith, the Wildcats slammed their third home run of the day with Logan Fontenelle's two-out, three-run blast off Matthew Birdsong in the sixth inning to extend their lead to 10-5.

EMCC added a seventh-inning run on Greer Manning's two-out RBI double to complete the day's scoring.

Smith capped his 3-for-7, three-RBI day at the plate by going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored in the nightcap. Eight other Lions contributed a hit apiece to comprise EMCC's 10-hit team effort in the second game.

Bidding for one of 10 available spots in the upcoming baseball postseason playoffs, head coach Brett Kimbrel's EMCC Lions (20-22, 7-15 MACCC) will play on the road next week with a Wednesday (April 23) doubleheader at Mississippi Delta followed by a Saturday (April 26) twinbill at Southwest Mississippi. East Mississippi is scheduled to conclude the regular season the following Tuesday (April 29) by playing host to Holmes. First pitch for the Lions' home baseball season finale is set for 2 p.m. on the Scooba campus.