Sunday Rush Recap

(MERIDIAN) - The talk of the 2010 Rush Invitational Tournament at Scaggs Field has been the unusually cold weather, but that conversation quickly turned into talk of the hot MCC offense on Sunday. The Eagles pounded out 26 total hits and scored 25 runs in a doubleheader sweep of Wabash Valley (10-5) and Southeastern Illinois (15-1) in day two of the tournament.

The Eagles also got two solid pitching performances from former Enterprise standout Blake Hennington and freshman Peyton Gardner. The Eagles also smashed seven homeruns in the doubleheader sweep on Sunday.

“We really played well today and got some solid pitching from our two starters,” said MCC head coach Chris Rose. “We ran the bases well and everyone in the lineup hit the baseball well in both games. We played some good defense behind our pitchers and did a lot of things very well as a team today.”

Freshman Peyton Gardner tossed five hitless innings for the Eagles and sophomore Corey Dickerson belted a pair of homeruns to lead the Eagles to a game one win over Southeastern Illinois. Gardner allowed no earned runs, one walk, and collected eight strikeouts in the no-hitter performance for the Eagles.

The Falcons took a quick lead to open the game thanks to poor fielding from the Eagles. Tommy Branham led the game off by reaching on a throwing error by MCC third baseman Jonathan Pace and later scored on another error by the MCC infield to give Southeast Illinois a 1-0 lead. The lead would not last long for the visitors as the Eagles scored four runs in the bottom of the first to take a 4-1 lead over the Falcons.

Dickerson led the inning off with a long solo home run over the wall in right field on the first pitch of the at bat to tie the score at 1-1. Jonathan Pace followed the homer by reaching on a hit by pitch and Ben Kingsley reached base on a single to put a pair of runners aboard for MCC. Rob McWhirter delivered a two run single for the Eagles to extend the lead to 3-1. MCC pushed another run across later in the inning thanks to an RBI single from Avi Ahlzadeh to make the score 4-1 in favor of MCC.

The Eagles continued to pour the offense on the Falcons by scoring four more runs in the second inning to make the score 8-1. Former Meridian High standout Kenny Roberts led the inning off with a solo homerun and Dickerson belted another solo shot to push the MCC lead to 5-1. Alan Williams collected an RBI single in the inning and Kingsley added a double in the second inning for the Eagles. MCC put the game away for good with a five run third inning to make the score 13-1. Hunter Trawick had an RBI single in the inning and Graham Spencer smashed a grand slam in the five run frame for the Eagles. MCC clawed for two more runs in the fourth inning to cruise to the 15-1 victory. Kenny Sanders collected an RBI single in the final inning for the MCC offense.
Blake Hennington led the way in game two for MCC by pitching 5 2/3 innings and tallying 11 strikeouts in the five run win. The Eagles trailed Wabash Valley 2-0 after the top of the first inning due to a long home run for the Warriors.

Tyler Oliver put the visitors on the scoreboard first with a two run homerun over the wall in left field to put Wabash Valley up 2-0. MCC responded with three runs of its own in the bottom of the first to take the lead 3-2 over the Warriors. Dickerson belted another solo homerun to lead off the first inning and two more runs scored on a couple of Wabash errors to make the score 3-2.

MCC extended its lead to 7-2 in the second inning with another long homerun. Spencer and Roberts led the inning off by reaching on walks for the Eagles, and Pace scored the first run of the frame on an RBI single to make the score 4-2. MCC smashed another home run to go up 7-2 off the bat of Ben Kinglsey who ended Sunday by going 5-for-7 at the plate for MCC.
The Eagles continued mounting the offense with two more runs in the third inning to push the score to 9-2. Spencer led the inning off with a single and came around to score on another home run as Roberts belted the two run homer to give the Eagles a seven run cushion.

Wabash would score one run in each of the next three innings, but it wasn’t enough as MCC would roll to the five run victory.