No. 20 East Central Community College had to overcome early leads by Hinds Community College in both games to earn an important road doubleheader sweep over the Eagles Tuesday, April 10, at Joe G. Moss Field Raymond.
East Central trailed 5-0 after the first inning of game one before scoring the last nine runs of the game for a 9-5 win. Hinds again scored the first two runs of game two, before the Warriors scored the final three runs for a 3-2 win in the seven-inning contest.
With the MACJC sweep, East Central is 22-10 overall on the season and 11-5 and in third place in MACJC league play. The Hinds Eagles are now 20-10 overall and 6-8 in MACJC play.
Hinds scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning in game one on just three hits. Two hit batters and an East Central error helped the Eagles in the big inning. After that, Warrior pitchers Payton Griffin and Will Ross held Hinds scoreless the next eight innings.
East Central got a run in the second on a double by freshman Ken Scott, two more in the fourth on a single by freshman Alex Hay, and another on a fielder’s choice in the fifth. The Warriors finally got the lead in the seventh. George Farid tied the game with an RBI single. After two runs crossed the plate on a Hinds’ error, freshman Zack Hutchison singled in a run to make the score 8-5.
The Warriors got an insurance run in the top of the eighth on a solo home run from freshman Deon Leflore to make the final score 9-5.
After a rough first inning, Griffin, a right-hander, settled down and allowed just two hits and no runs over the next six innings. He struck out seven Hinds batters. Freshman right-hander Will Ross came on in the eighth and pitched two scoreless innings of one-hit ball for the save.
In the nightcap, Hinds again grabbed an early lead with two runs in the bottom of the first on two hits. The Eagles would manage just one hit off East Central pitching the next six innings.
The Warriors closed the gap to 2-1 with an RBI single by Farid in the top of the third and tied the game 2-2 on a double by Davis Lott in the fourth. Another RBI single by Farid in the fifth proved to be the game-winner.
Brooks Warren of French Camp Academy got the start and the win for East Central. The left-hander threw five and a third innings and gave up two runs on two hits while striking out four batters. Right-hander Dylan Marsh threw the final inning and two thirds for the save.
