The No. 17 ranked East Central Community College baseball team bounced back from a pair of midweek losses with a couple of run-rule wins over the Elaine P. Nunez Community College Pelicans Saturday, April 28, at Clark-Gay Baseball Complex in Decatur.
East Central won the opener 10-2 in seven innings and then won the nightcap 14-4 in five innings.
East Central is now 29-13 on the season. The visitors from Chalmette, La., are 3-26.
Left-hander Austin Pearce was solid on the mound in the opener. The freshman from Hazel Green, Ala., pitched five innings and gave up only one hit and no earned runs, while striking out seven batters.
Southern Mississippi signee Jacob Edwards out of Newton County High School had a big day at the plate for East Central. He was three-for-four with two doubles, a triple, and two RBI in game one. Davis Lott out of Lewisburg High School had a two-run homer in the opener, his sixth of the season, and freshman George Farid (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) had a couple of RBI on two hits.
In the nightcap, the Warriors put up six runs in the second and four in the fifth en route to the five-inning win.
Edwards had another triple and two more RBI in the 14-4 win. Freshman Jay Johnston had three RBI, including two on a fifth-inning double. Wyatt Ball of Nanih Waiya, Will Ross of Hernando, and Farid all knocked in a pair of runs.
Another freshman, right-hander Thomas Boothe from Fairhope, Ala., got the win in game two, pitching the first three innings and striking out five Pelicans.
East Central returns to conference play for the final week of the regular season with a trip to Perkinston on Wednesday, May 2, to face Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. The Warriors will close out the regular season on Saturday, May 5, at home against Northwest Mississippi Community College at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
ECCC Baseball Drops MACJC Doubleheader to Visiting Meridian
No. 17 ranked East Central Community College held early leads in both games but could not keep them as the Meridian Community College Eagles swept an MACJC baseball doubleheader Tuesday, April 24, at Clark-Gay Baseball Complex in Decatur.
East Central lost the first game 8-5 after leading 3-0 early and 5-4 heading to the top of the ninth inning. The Warriors scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning of the nightcap, but failed to score the rest of the way as Meridian won 8-3.
With the losses, East Central is now 27-13 overall on the season and 16-8 in the league. The Meridian Eagles are 31-9 overall and 18-6 in MACJC play.
East Central held a 3-0 lead through four innings of the opener. The runs came on RBI singles from freshman Ken Scott of Clarkdale and Jacob Edwards of Newton County, and a solo home run from freshman Ryan Cupit out of West Monroe, La.
With the Warriors leading 3-1 heading to the sixth inning, the Eagles tied the game 3-3. East Central immediately regained the lead in the bottom of the frame on a home run from freshman Will Ross of Hernando and an RBI single from freshman Deon Leflore out of Leake Central.
East Central took a 5-4 lead to the top of the ninth before Meridian plated four runs on just two hits to get the 8-5 lead and the win.
Cupit and Davis Lott of Lewisburg each had a pair of hits to lead the Warriors in the first game. Kolby Crowley of East Webster took the loss on the mound in relief.
The Warriors quickly took a 3-0 lead after one inning in game two thanks to Lott’s three-run homer. After that, it was all Meridian as the Eagles scored four in the second and two each in the sixth and seventh innings for the 8-3 win. East Central managed just two hits after the first inning.
Brooks Warren out of French Camp Academy started for East Central and was credited with the loss.
