The East Central Community College Warriors bounced back with a 4-2 win in the nightcap to salvage a doubleheader split with the East Mississippi Lions in non-conference baseball action Monday, March 9, at the Clark-Gay Baseball Complex on the ECCC campus in Decatur.
The EMCC Lions won the opener 9-6. The Warriors are now 10-8 on the season, while EMCC is 1-13.
MACJC conference play begins Saturday, March 14, when Holmes visits Decatur for a 2 p.m. doubleheader. Both games can be heard on WKOZ “Cruisin” 98.3 radio and watched via live stream video at www.eccc.edu/eccc-media.
The Lions scored nine runs on just six hits to take the opener for their first win of the season.
The Warriors also collected just six hits in game one. Freshman shortstop Amani Larry (Bossier Parish, La., Parkway) had two of those including a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Three East Central pitchers combined to hold EMCC to just one hit in game two. Sophomore right-hander Walker Johnson (East Webster) threw the first four innings giving up one run on one hit. Freshmen right-handers Grant Johnson (Hernando) and Robert Sanford (Seminary) closed the game out for the Warriors.
The East Central Community College Warriors took a pair of non-conference baseball games from the visiting Jones College Bobcats Sunday.
East Central won the opener 7-6 with four runs in the last two innings, and then took the nightcap 11-6 with a five-run bottom of the sixth.
Trailing 6-3 in game one after six innings, East Central scored a pair of runs in the bottom seventh and eighth innings for the come-from-behind win. A two-run homer by sophomore right fielder Jesse Boydstun (Winston Academy) in the seventh closed the gap to 6-5, and back-to-back RBI doubles in the eighth from sophomore shortstop Roper Ball (Nanih Waiya) and sophomore second baseman Eli Harrison (Newton County) brought in the tying and winning runs.
Ball led the Warriors with three hits, while Boydstun and Harrison had two each. Boydstun drove in three runs.
Freshman right-hander Grant Johnson (Hernando) pitched the final three innings for the win by not allowing the Bobcats a hit or a run.
East Central jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in game two, but it was a five-run bottom of the sixth that sealed the 11-6 win.
Boydstun had three hits in game two, and freshman third baseman Hunter Barrett (Sumrall), sophomore center fielder Dakota Kennedy (Choctaw Central), and Posey had two each. Courtland Posey had four runs batted in.
Sophomore right-hander Tanner Knight (Eupora) pitched all seven innings for the win.
The East Central Community College baseball Warriors made a quick trip to Louisiana Tuesday, March 3, dropping games to Kellogg Community College and Baton Rouge Community College in games played at Pete Goldsby Field on the BRCC campus.
Kellogg College out of Battle Creek, Mich., defeated the Warriors 10-6 in the opening seven-inning contest, while Baton Rouge won the seven-inning nightcap 4-3.
Kellogg broke open a close game with nine runs in the top of the fourth to go from a 2-1 deficit to an 10-2 lead in the first game of the day. The Bruins had just four hits in the inning, but were the beneficiaries of four hit batters and two base on balls.
East Central managed six runs on six hits, including two triples from sophomore second baseman Roper Ball (Nanih Waiya) and two doubles from sophomore pitcher/designated hitter Jesse Boydstun (Winston Academy).
In East Central’s second game, the Baton Rouge scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to win 4-3 in walk-off fashion. The Warriors led 3-0 before Baton Rouge used two doubles and two singles, a walked batter, and an East Central error to win the game.
