MCC Eagles win First Pitch Classic

By Robby Atkinson / Special to The Star
The Meridian Star


MERIDIAN — The Meridian Community College Eagles were looking to add another championship to its already impressive list of accomplishments on Sunday at the First Pitch Classic in Panama City, FL at Bill Frazier Field on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast. The Eagles used a spectacular relief pitching performance from Steven Taylor and a four run fifth inning to claim the championship of the tournament with a 5-4 victory over Tallahassee Community College.

MCC lost to TCC on Saturday in the second day of the tournament by a final score of 3-2 and the Eagles came away from the weekend by winning two of its three games.

"It is always great to come away with a pair of wins against solid teams like we saw this weekend," said MCC head coach Chris Curry. "I was proud of the job our team did this weekend and finding ways to make things happen. We came away with the tournament championship and that is such a great way to start our season."

Tallahassee got the game started on a high note with three runs in the opening inning to take a lead over MCC. Kyle Marks got the scoring started for TCC with an RBI single and Garrett Tinsley added a two-run single in the inning to make the score 3-0 in favor of TCC. The Eagles started to claw back in the game with a run in the top of the third inning with a run to cut the score to 3-1. Johnny Tolson reached on a two-out double to deep left center and later scored on a single by former Meridian High standout Kenny Robert to bring Meridian to within a pair of runs.

MCC (2-1) took the lead for good with a huge four-run fifth inning to take a 5-3 lead over TCC. The first run of the inning crossed the plate on an RBI single by Tolson and Ben Kingsley later added an RBI double in the inning for MCC. The final run of the inning scored on a throwing error by the TCC infield to give the Eagles a 5-3 lead.

Tallahassee (1-2) chipped into the MCC lead with a lone run in the bottom of the fifth inning to make the score 5-4. Michael Arencibia drove the run in for TCC on an RBI groundout to tighten the game to just one run.

Former West Lauderdale standout Wes Stokes drew the start on the mound from the Eagles on Sunday and tossed five innings and allowed four earned runs, while collecting one strikeout. MCC got its biggest spark of the night from the bullpen that would come in the form of sophomore Steven Taylor. The former Enterprise standout threw the final four innings of the game in relief and didn't allow a run and secured five strikeouts in securing the save for the Eagles.

"He (Taylor) did a solid job out of the pen for us tonight," added Curry. "I was so proud of him tonight and I think our staff was solid all weekend. There are of course a few things we need to work on, but our pitching was key this weekend."

MCC finished the game with seven hits overall and Tolson led the way with three hits for the Eagles. Roberts ended the game with two hits for Meridian, while Kinglsey and Darren Farmer had one hit apiece in the victory. All seven of the hits on Sunday came from the first four spots in the lineup for the Eagles.

Tinsley led the TCC attack with two hits and drove in two runs in the loss for Tallahassee. MCC will return to action this Saturday in its first home games of the season against Faulkner State. The doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. at Scaggs on the Meridian Community College campus.