MCC eliminates Gulf Coast from Region 23, ICC advances to face NW Miss

Game 1
MCC 4
MGCCC 1

MERIDIAN, MS – The Meridian Community College baseball team (41-14) faced elimination in Thursday’s first ballgame of the 2007 NJCAA Region 23 baseball tournament at Scaggs Field. The Eagles, who had already knocked off the no. 1 team in the nation, faced Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (39-12), a team ranked no. 2 in the nation.

MCC’s starting pitcher Kedrick Martin gave the Eagles exactly what they needed, a solid nine inning performance.

Martin threw a complete game, giving up just six hits and striking out five batters.

“Kedrick did a great job of getting ahead in the counts and controlling his fastball,” said MCC’s head coach Chris Rose.

“He gave up only one run and kept our pitching staff fresh.”

The Eagles committed just one error in the game which was an improvement from the first two ballgames where they looked sloppy at times in the field.

Left-fielder Josh Demoney made a diving catch in the second inning, while the infield improved their play with Drew Snider at second base and Matt Holliman at third.

“Defensively we’ve struggled,” said Rose.

“But today we made play that saved runs.”

The contest was scoreless until the fourth inning when MCC’s Michael Guerrero led off with a stand-up double. Drew Snider then followed with a single to move Guerrero to third, giving the Eagles runners on the corners.

Ian Sharp then drove in both those runners with a 2 RBI single into left field, giving MCC the first runs of the ballgame and a 2-0 lead.

In the top of the 6th Gulf Coast got on the board after a sacrifice hit by Blain Ivey, which drove in Jeremy Davis from third, making the score 2-1 MCC.

In the sixth inning, Meridian extended their lead back out to two runs when red-hot Tyler Moore stepped up to bat and knocked out a leadoff solo-homerun, giving MCC a 3-1 lead. The solo shot was Moore’s third homerun of the Region 23 Tournament and his 19th on the season.

“Tyler got things going for us in the 6th,” said Rose.

“That gave us some confidence heading into the final innings.”

In the 7th inning, Matt Holliman added one more final run for Martin and the Eagles to work with as he drove in David Woods on an RBI single.

MCC defeated Gulf Coast by a final score of 4-1 and advanced to play Northwest/Itawamba loser in the 7 p.m. ballgame while the Bulldogs of Gulf Coast were eliminated from the tournament.

“We beat an excellent Mississippi Gulf Coast team here today,” said Rose.

“Give them credit for a great season.”

At the plate, MCC was led by Ian Sharp who was 2 for 4 with two singles and two RBIs. Tyler Moore was 1 for 3 with a solo-homerun.

For Gulf Coast, Brian McCants was 1-2 with a double and Blaine Ivey was 1-3 with a RBI sacrifice single.

Game Two
MCC 5
ICC 8

Meridian faced elimination for the second time Thursday, when they took on the Itawamba Indians in a game that was scheduled to start at 7 pm but didn’t get underway until close to 8 pm.

The Eagles stuck first with a RBI single by Michael Guerrero that drove in Matt Holliman.

Itawamba came back in the bottom half of the first inning when Davis Potter drove in Tyler Wilson with an RBI single to tie up the game at 1-1. Then Chance Prestage blaster his only hit of the ball game, a three-run homerun to give ICC a 4-1 lead.

The Indians would add a run in the second inning as Charley Williams had an RBI double, making the score 5-1 ICC. Williams would end up with 3 doubles in the game, going 3 for 4.

MCC added more runs in the third to cut into the ICC lead when Guerrero had his 2nd RBI with a stand up double that scored Holliman again, making it 5-2 ICC. Then Drew Snider hit an RNI single scoring Guerrero, making it 5-3.

In the top of the fourth inning, MCC would tie up the ballgame when Ian Sharp drew a lead off walk and then advanced to second and third following two back-to-back sacrifice bunts and Josh Demoney hit an RBI single to make it 5-4. Matt Holliman then came up and added one more run to tie it up at 5-5 with an RBI triple.

ICC scored one run in the fourth to regain the lead at 6-5 when Blake Thomas drew a bases loaded walk.

The score remained that way until the eighth inning when ICC added two more runs to make the final score 8-5.

Chase Porch stared the game on the mound for MCC and threw 4 $1/3 innings, with 7 strike outs and gave up 5 hits. Wade weathers and Lee Swindle came in for relief combining for 9 strikeouts.

Itawamba advances to play Northwest Mississippi tomorrow at 2:00 pm. If Northwest wins they claim the Region 23 title, ICC must win two games.