MCC Baseball Splits Home Doubleheader Against Northeast Mississippi

From School Reports

The Meridian Community College baseball team returned to action on Tuesday night to close out its current eight-game home stand against conference foe Northeast Mississippi Community College at Scaggs Field in another pair of key games. The Eagles were able to salvage a split against the Tigers by winning Game One 15-5 and falling in Game Two by a final of 6-5. MCC is now 19-13 overall for the season with the split on Tuesday night and 8-8 in conference action. MCC will hit the road for the next six games on its schedule and the trip will start in Goodman, MS this Friday afternoon for a conference doubleheader against Holmes Community College at 1 p.m. MCC will continue the road trip next Wednesday (April 19) at East Mississippi and then will travel to Mississippi Gulf Coast next Saturday (April 22). The next scheduled home games at Scaggs Field will be April 25 when the Eagles play host to East Central in a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m.

MCC got the day started on Tuesday night against Northeast Mississippi on a strong note by cruising past the Tigers by a final score of 15-5 in Game One. The Eagles banged out 14 hits in the opening game to secure the run-rule victory. Trace Jordan led the way at the plate in Game One by driving in five runs on a pair of hits and one of those hits was a homer in the bottom of the seventh inning to end the game. Chase Coker and CJ Hughes each drove in two runs on two hits, while Luke Craig collected an RBI on two base hits. Former Northeast Lauderdale star Landon Keller also had two singles and an RBI in the victory, while Milton Smith had an RBI on a single for the Eagles.

Freshman Matthew Harrison picked up the pitching win out of the bullpen in Game One for the Eagles by working 4 1/3 innings and collecting three strikeouts in the effort.

MCC couldn’t quite muster enough offense in Game Two and fell just short to Northeast Mississippi by a final count of 6-5. MCC held a 4-3 lead heading into the top of the sixth inning, but the Tigers were able to plate three runs that made the ultimate difference in the one-run loss. The Tigers scored the first run of the frame on a bases loaded balk and added the eventual winning runs on a two-run single. MCC managed to strike for one run in the final inning on a sacrifice fly by Blake Fields, but couldn’t get over the hump to fall by one run.

MCC finished Game Two with 10 total hits and Milton Smith led the way by knocking in two runs on three base hits. Luke Craig also had an RBI on two hits, while Cade Ewing had two hits in the Game Two loss.