MCC Baseball Rumbles Past SE Iowa

From School Reports

The Meridian Community College Eagles were looking to bounce back from a disappointing 7-6 loss Thursday night at the hands of Southeastern Iowa with the final game in the short two-game series between the Eagles and the Blackhawks. Meridian used three home runs and solid pitching to dispose of Southeastern by a final score of 10-2 Friday afternoon at Scaggs Field.

MCC improved to 10-12 with the home victory, while Southeastern dropped to 11-6 overall for the 2014 season.

The Eagles used a six-run seventh inning that blew the game open to pace the home squad to the eight-run victory. MCC scored its first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning on a wild pitch that scored Kevin Hall from third base and two more runs crossed the plate in the fifth inning on a two-run homer by Dalton Thomas to give the green and white a 3-0 lead.

Southeastern bounced back to score its only runs of the game in the top of the seventh inning to tighten the score at 3-2 in favor of MCC. Tanner Giesel smashed a home run over the center field wall that plated the two runs for the Blackhawks.

MCC would put the game away for good with six runs in the bottom half of the seventh inning to make the score 9-2. The inning was highlighted by a grand slam home run by Michael Druhan, which was his first of the 2014 season, while Ben Gann and Mac Siebert each added an RBI single in the frame.

The Eagles put one more run on the board in the eighth inning on a solo home run by Thomas to pace Meridian to the 10-2 win. Thomas now leads the team five home runs for the 2014 season after smashing a pair in the win. MCC collected 11 hits as a team in the game, while Southeastern had seven in the loss.

Brooks Balisterri and Dalton Thomas led MCC with three hits apiece, while Paul Angel added a pair of hits for the Eagles.

The MCC pitching staff completed a solid performance on the hill by using three arms in the victory. Goose Yates was credited with the win by working three scoreless innings and finishing the game with four strikeouts. Josh Curtis tossed four innings in relief for MCC and allowed two earned runs, while Kellon Hibbard pitched two shutout innings in relief.

MCC will return to action next week with a seven-game stretch that begins with a scheduled road doubleheader at Wallace-Selma Community College Monday at 12 p.m. The Eagles will return to Scaggs Field Wednesday afternoon for a doubleheader against Wallace-Hanceville at 1 p.m. and next weekend MCC will open Miss-Lou Conference play with a three-game set against Baton Rouge Community College. The series begins next Saturday with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. and will conclude next Sunday with a single-game at 1 p.m.