MCC bats heat up to take second game of twinbill

By Robby Atkinson/special to The Star

The Meridian Community College Eagles had an up and down type of day on Tuesday against Shelton State at Scaggs Field.

The Eagles surrendered seven runs in the final inning of play in game one to take a 12-6 loss and rebounded in game two to explode for nine hits in a 13-1 win to take a doubleheader split with the Buccaneers in local junior college baseball action.

"We made a lot of mistakes in the first game," said MCC head coach Chris Rose. "We made a couple of errors late in the game that cost us, but I was happy to see us bounce back and take game two."

Meridian moved its record to 29-7 overall for the season and will return to action Friday as the Eagles travel to take on Wallace-Hanceville in a doubleheader. The first game is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.


MCC 13
Shelton 1

MCC used a pair of home runs and a solid pitching performance from freshman Chase Porch to take the game two win. Porch tossed five innings and collected four strikeouts. Porch allowed only one run and one hit in the victory.

"He (Porch) did an outstanding job of pitching in game two," said Rose. "He got off to a great start and we were able to get some early runs that gave him a ton of confidence."

The Eagles did indeed get some early runs for its young pitcher as Tyler Moore connected on his 11th home run of the season which plated three runs to give Meridian a 3-0 lead after the first inning. The Eagles continued the offensive show as MCC added four more runs in the second inning to take a 7-0 lead over Shelton. Jarrod Parks had an RBI single in the four-run inning for Meridian and Dirk Welch added a double in the second for MCC.

The Eagles added another run in the fourth inning to take an 8-0 lead over the Buccaneers. Drew Snider led the inning off with a triple and later scored on a wild pitch to give Meridian the eight run lead.

Shelton State (26-12) scored its only run of the game thanks to a double by Russ Tibbs. Meridian scored four more times to take the run rule win over Shelton. Parks highlighted the inning with a walk off three run home run to propel the Eagles to the win.


Shelton 12
MCC 6

Shelton State scored seven runs in the seventh inning to take the comeback win in game one over Meridian. The Eagles carried a 6-5 lead into the final inning, but Meridian was plagued by walks and errors that led to the seven run win for Shelton State.

Shelton State opened the game by scoring to quick runs to take a 2-0 lead. Robert Israel connected on a two-run home run to left field to give the Buccaneers the early two-run edge. The Eagles answered with a run in the bottom of the first to cut the lead to 2-1. Michael Guerrero reached base on a double and later scored on a single by

Moore to get the Eagles on the board.

Shelton extended its lead in the third inning with an RBI single by Israel to make the score 3-1. Meridian tied the game in the bottom of the third with a pair runs thanks to great hitting from the top of the Eagle lineup. Matt Holliman drove in the first run on a double and

Guerrero followed with an RBI single to tie the game at 3-3.

Shelton State answered with a run in the top of the fourth on an error by the Meridian infield, but the Eagles came right back to take the lead with a pair of runs in the same inning to make the score 5-4.

David Woods and Snider each had an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth inning to give Meridian the slim one -run lead.

Both teams each scored in the sixth inning to make the score 6-5, but Shelton took advantage of a big seventh inning that led to the six run win. Meridian pitching surrendered seven runs in the final inning on three walks and two costly errors.