MCC Baseball Set For Huge Weekend Series

From School Reports

The Meridian Community College Eagles are set for a huge weekend series with the Pirates of Pensacola State College this weekend at Scaggs Field. The Eagles will enter the weekend with a 13-10 overall record, while the Pirates will bring a 16-7 record to Scaggs Field. The series will begin with a single game Saturday at 6 p.m. and the series will conclude with a doubleheader Sunday at 1 p.m.

MCC will play Pensacola riding a huge amount of momentum after sweeping Faulkner State (11-1, 10-2) in a road doubleheader on Wednesday, while the Pirates have won four of its last five games. Pensacola swept Baton Rouge Community College (4-0, 2-0) earlier in the week and have also won two of three games over Delgado Community College earlier in the season. Baton Rouge and Delgado are both members of the Miss-Lou Conference with MCC.

The Eagles will bring a team batting average of .279 into the series and MCC is led by sophomore catcher Wade Wass. The Pensacola native is currently leading the team in home runs (9), batting average (.405), RBI's (26), and runs scored (26). Wass is also tied with Johnny Tolson for the team lead in hits (30) and doubles (8).

Wass is currently tied for the lead in the NJCAA in home runs with Cody Leichman of Wabash Valley and Garrett Yost of Lamar Community College.

Pensacola will also bring one of the leaders in stolen bases to Scaggs Field this weekend. Fred Ratcliff leads the NJCAA in stolen bases with 26 steals in 26 attempts this season which is a 90 percent average. The Pirates also have one of the top home run hitters in the country, as Gavin Patton will come into the series with six home runs which is among the top five in the nation. Patton is also ranked third in the country in RBI's with 32.

The Eagles have also been very dangerous on the base paths throughout the season as Jonathan Youngblood and Kasey Hinton are among the top ten in stolen bases in the NJCAA. Youngblood has swiped 16 bases and Hinton has collected 13 steals this season.

The Eagles will also play a pair of games of homes games during spring break against Shelton State and Mineral Area. MCC will play Shelton State on March 13 at 6 p.m. and the Eagles will square off against Mineral Area on March 15 at 1 p.m.