The East Central Community College baseball team scored 32 runs and pounded out 29 hits in just 14 innings against East Mississippi, but still came home with a doubleheader split with the Lions in games played Friday, March 8, at Gerald Poole Field on the EMCC campus in Scooba.
East Mississippi won the nine-inning opener 18-17 in walk-off fashion, before the Warriors came back and took the five-inning, run-rule nightcap 15-3. The two teams combined for 52 runs, 50 hits, 32 walked batters, and four hit batters, but committed just one error.
With the split, East Central is now 5-7 on the season. East Mississippi is 3-7. The games did not count in the regular season MACJC standings, as the Warriors and Lions will meet in league games March 30 in Decatur.
For the second straight series this week, East Central lost on a walk-off. Trailing 17-15 heading to the bottom of the ninth and with one out, the Lions got back-to-back home runs from Dillon Morgan and Zarin Cole to tie the game. One out later, an East Central error and back-to-back East Mississippi doubles gave the Lions the 18-17 win.
Offensively in game one, the Warriors collected 15 hits, three by both sophomore third baseman George Farid (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) and freshman center fielder Dakota Kennedy (Choctaw Central). Farid had a home run and a double and drove in five runs. Kennedy also doubled and homered, with three RBI. Sophomore designated hitter/catcher Alex Hay (Lewisburg) hit a two-run homer in the first inning. Sophomore shortstop Jay Johnston (Lake), sophomore left fielder Ryan Cupit (West Monroe, La.), and freshman catcher Eli Harrison (Newton County) all had two hits in the loss.
East Central ensured there would be no heartbreaking loss in game two with nine runs in the top of the fourth inning that gave the Warriors a 13-3 lead. With two more runs across the plate in the top of the fifth, East Central led 15-3 after five innings and the game was ruled official by run-rule.
The Warriors collected 14 hits in the game, to just two for East Mississippi. Sophomore left-hander Javian Stone (Jackson, Provine, Highland Community College) got the start and the win, giving up two hits and striking out 10 batters in four innings.
Cupit had four RBI in the win on a pair of doubles. Freshman center fielder Al Dumas (Eupora) collected three hits and three RBI. Sophomore second baseman Anderson Shelley (Greenville, Washington School) had a single, double, and triple and drove in two runs. Johnston and Hay also had a couple of RBI each.
The Warriors are scheduled to play their home opener on Tuesday, March 12, when Coastal Alabama-South visits Clark-Gay Baseball Complex in Decatur for a doubleheader. First pitch is 3 p.m.
MACJC league play begins Saturday, March 16, when the Warriors face Holmes in a doubleheader in Goodman beginning at 1 p.m.
Most East Central home baseball games can be heard on WKOZ "Cruisin" 98.3 or watched via live stream video at www.eccc.edu/eccc-media.