Clean Sweep

Meridian blasts past Delgado
By Robby Atkinson / Special to The Star The Meridian Star

MERIDIAN — The Meridian Community College Eagles entered the series finale against Delgado looking for a sweep of the Dolphins and the Eagles earned the sweep in impressive fashion. The Eagles scored four runs in the second inning and moved six runs across the plate in the fifth inning to roll over Delgado 14-4 to earn the series sweep of the Dolphins.

The Eagles smashed two more home runs on Sunday after hitting six as a team on Saturday, and got a solid pitching performance from sophomore Blake Hennington. The former Enterprise standout tossed 7 1/3 innings and collected 11 strikeouts in the victory for the Eagles. MCC was also flawless on defense and didn’t commit an error in the contest to complete what might have been the best performance in the 2010 season for the Eagles.

“We did just about everything right today in every part of the game,” said MCC coach Chris Rose. “We got a great start on the mound today from Hennington and played some solid defense behind him.”

The Eagles were very solid on offense once again with 17 total hits and every player in the starting lineup got a least one base hit in the victory on Sunday.

“We hit the baseball very well in all three games,” added Rose. “We got hits yesterday and today with two strikes in the count and that is such a big plus. This is a great sweep for us right out of the gate in conference and coming against a team like Delgado is even better. I am very proud of our guys and we really came together and played some great baseball this weekend.”

Delgado (21-13, 0-3) came out and grabbed a quick 1-0 lead over Meridian in the top of the first inning by way of a home run. Kirk Cunningham blasted a solo shot over the wall in left field to give the Dolphins a quick lead over MCC. The Dolphins were able to hold the lead until the Eagles used a big inning of its own to take a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning.

Alan Williams led the inning off by reaching first on a hit by pitch, Michael LeGrange followed with a single, and Graham Spencer reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases for MCC with no outs. Kenny Roberts drove the first run in for MCC on a single to tie the game at 1-1 and the Eagles took the lead as Corey Dickerson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to give MCC a 2-1 edge over Delgado.

The final two runs on the frame came on RBI groundouts to extend the MCC lead to 4-1 over Delgado. The Dolphins crept back in the game with a pair of runs in the third inning to cut the Meridian lead to 4-3. Cory Guidry led the inning off with a walk and Lucas LeBlanc followed with a single to put a pair of runners on for the Dolphins. Beau Boudreaux knocked one run in on an RBI groundout and the next run scored on an RBI single by Cunningham to draw Delgado to within one run at 4-3. The Eagles would run away with the game in the fifth inning as MCC scored six times to move to an 11-3 lead over Delgado. Ben Kingsley led the inning off with a walk and Darren Farmer followed with a walk to set the table for freshman designated hitter Avi Ahlzadeh. The Eagles pushed its lead to 7-3 after Ahlzadeh smashed a three-run homer over the wall in right field and bring all of the momentum into the MCC dugout. Dickerson added a two-run single in the six-run fifth inning for the Eagles and Kingsley added an RBI single in the fifth.

The Eagles scored one run in the sixth and eighth innings, and added two runs in the seventh inning to propel to the run rule victory over Delgado. Spencer drove a run in on a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning, Dickerson had a solo homer in the seventh inning, and Drew Crosy added an RBI single in the eighth inning for the Eagles.

Dickerson hit two home runs this weekend in the series against Delgado and moved his total to 13 home runs for the season. Jonathan Pace had two hits in the game for MCC with a single and a double, while LeGrange had two hits which included a single and a double for MCC.

MCC (19-10, 3-0) returns to action on Tuesday against Faulkner State in a single game at Scaggs Field which begins at 2 p.m.