MCC Baseball Sweeps Regular Season Finale

From School Reports

The Meridian Community College Eagles closed out the 2014 regular season in style by sweeping past Alabama Southern Community College (7-1) and Shelton State Community College (8-3) at Scaggs Field on Tuesday. MCC moved its overall record to 25-24 with the home sweep to ride a small winning streak heading into the postseason which begins this weekend.

MCC will open play in the 2014 Region 23 Division I Tournament this Friday at noon against Baton Rouge Community College. The Eagles will continue play in the tournament with a 7 p.m. contest Friday evening against the host Delgado Community College Dolphins. The tournament is double elimination format and MCC will enter the field as the number two seed.

MCC collected 12 hits and rolled past Alabama Southern in the opening game of the doubleheader by a final count of 7-1. The Eagles scored five runs in the second inning and never looked back in taking the victory. Freshman Chandler Blakeney picked up the pitching win for MCC by working five scoreless innings, to go along with a pair of strikeouts. Paul Angel led the Eagles at the plate in Game One with a pair of doubles, while Brooks Balisterri added an RBI single. Kevin Hall, Mac Seibert, and Grant Hill each had two hits apiece. Second baseman Ben Gann also drove in a pair of runs in Game One on an RBI single and Scott Votaw chipped in with a single in the victory.

MCC broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the fourth inning in Game Two against Shelton State with four runs to run away with the 8-3 victory. Kevin Hall broke the tie with a two-run single to left field to give MCC a 5-3 lead that would stay in favor of the green and white for the remainder of the game. Angel led the way in Game Two with three hits and RBI, while Jared Savell added two singles. Grant Hill and Garrett Larosa each had RBI doubles in the win, and Balisterri added a pair of base hits.

Kellon Hibbard notched the pitching win in relief for MCC by working just over one inning and allowing no earned runs.