MCC Eagles ready to soar into 2010 season

By Robby Atkinson / Special to The Star The Meridian Star

MERIDIAN — The Meridian Community College Eagles have enjoyed many years of success on the baseball diamond by making seven appearances in the NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Colo., and this season the goal is to make it number eight.

MCC enjoyed another banner season in 2009 by securing a Region 23 Championship in dramatic fashion over Delgado, but the Eagles fell short of its ultimate goal of winning a national championship. The Eagles are hoping that 2010 will be the year to take the final step, but the Eagles will need to fill some big shoes in a hurry.

"We lost a lot of great players from last season, but these young players coming into 2010 have some great talent," said MCC head coach Chris Rose. Rose is in his fourth season as the head coach for the Eagles and the goals never change at MCC.

"Our number one goal is to get to Grand Junction and win a national championship," said Rose. "Meridian has been an elite program for years and we have enjoyed a lot of success. We will face some tough challenges this season and we will look for some young guys to step up in a big way to fill some holes from some solid sophomores from last season."

MCC will return seven sophomores from 2009 and the most notable being center fielder Corey Dickerson. Dickerson led the Eagles in most offensive categories last season and will be in the lead off spot in the lineup for MCC.

"He is a great hitter and we are looking for big things from him again this season," said Rose. "He works extremely hard and looks to improve his game everyday."

Dickerson has already signed to play at Mississippi State next season. Jonathan Pace returns for his sophomore season for MCC and will see plenty of action in the infield for the Eagles. Pace will primarily start at third base for MCC replacing departed third baseman Tyler Vick, who led the team in home runs last season.

Another new face on the infield for MCC will be at shortstop with freshman Graham Spencer. Spencer will bring a solid glove to the position and replace Jordan King from last season, who signed to play at Ole Miss. Freshman Hunter Trawick has drawn the starts so far at first base for the Eagles replacing Taylor Scarbrough from last season. Former Meridian High standout Kenny Roberts rounds out the infield and will draw starts at second base for MCC.

"I believe that we will be very solid defensively this season," added Rose. "We are young in the middle, but those guys are getting better every day."

MCC will have a small taste of local flavor behind the plate as Darren Farmer will see a lot of action at catcher. The former West Lauderdale standout brings a lot of experience at the catching position and was a part of a State Championship for the Knights last season. The Eagles are deep at the catching position with Chase Hesson and Avi Ahlzadeh, who will also see action.

MCC returns several outfielders from last season led by Kenny Sanders. Sanders cracked the starting lineup at the end of the 2009 season and will look to contribute in 2010. Michael LeGrange, Drew Crosby, Nick Helmstetter, and Alan Williams will see some action in the outfield for MCC this season as well.

The most important part of the success for the Eagles this season will lie with its pitching staff. MCC returns only two pitchers from last season and the Eagles will have lots of youth on the mound in 2010.

Former Enterprise standout and sophomore Blake Hennington will be in the starting rotation for MCC along with sophomore Jonathan Thompson. MCC will also look for contributions from Scott Lord, Dustin McWilliams of West Lauderdale, Payton Gardner, and several other to fill holes among the staff.

MCC kicked off the 2010 season on Friday with a 4-2 loss to Central Alabama in the First Pitch Classic in Panama, City Fla. The Eagles rebounded with an 8-5 against Chipola on Saturday before losing to St. Petersburg College 9-4 Sunday.

MCC opens its home schedule Friday against Shelton State at 2 p.m. The 2010 schedule will feature the annual Rush Tournament (Feb. 12-14) and key Miss-Lou Conference games with Delgado and Baton Rouge. The site of the Region 23 Tournament will be the winner of the regular season championship of the Miss-Lou Conference.

MCC enters the 2010 season nationally ranked 19th according to the NJCAA Divison I preseason poll.