MERIDIAN – The Lions of East Mississippi Community College claimed their second road conference baseball sweep of the week by knocking off 12th-ranked Meridian, 3-2 and 11-5, during Saturday’s MACCC action played at Scaggs Field.
On the heels of sweeping the Holmes Bulldogs, 11-5 and 7-6, earlier in the week on Tuesday (March 19) at Goodman, the EMCC Lions improved to 21-10 overall and 7-3 in conference play on the year with their first doubleheader baseball sweep over the Meridian Eagles since the 2017 season.
In the scheduled nine-inning opening game, EMCC received a masterful two-hit, complete-game pitching effort from Cooper Garrison. The sophomore right-hander had only allowed a well-placed infield hit to second base by Landon Houston in the fourth inning prior to surrendering a solo home run to Rhett Ketchum in the eighth inning. The Gulfport native threw 113 total pitches in the contest, striking out six, walking three and hitting four batters while improving to 3-3 on the year.
The hitting hero for the Lions in the opener was Tupelo native Jon Paul Yates, who supplied the go-ahead runs by smacking a two-run homer in the eighth inning with Coby Holmes on base.
The other runs in the contest came on Cooper Chaplain’s sacrifice fly in the first inning for Meridian and Joe Scarborough’s game-tying RBI double in the fifth that plated EMCC first baseman Gates Gerhart. Prior to the Lions’ four consecutive hits to open the fifth frame, they had been set down in order for the first four innings by Meridian starting pitcher Jacob Humbers.
EMCC’s middle infield tandem of Holmes at second base and Hugh LeMasters at shortstop, who combined to turn three double plays during the doubleheader, combined for four of the team’s nine total hits in the opening contest.
The Lions never trailed in the scheduled seven-inning nightcap. After giving EMCC winning pitcher Drake Bayles an early 4-0 lead on Yates’ RBI single in the second inning and Holmes’ two-run single a frame later, the visitors added seven more runs while sending 11 batters to the plate in the fourth inning.
The Eagles got on the scoreboard with a solo tally in the fourth and four more runs a frame later to cut the final margin to 11-5. After Bayles scattered eight hits over 4.2 innings to improve to 4-2 on the year, EMCC relievers Jacob Nunn and Sam Malone combined to hold Meridian scoreless over the final two frames.
Yates added a double and a single with two RBIs in the second game while combining with Ayden Alsobrooks to account for half of EMCC’s eight total hits in the nightcap victory.
Head coach Brett Kimbrel’s EMCC Lions return to Scooba to play a pair of home baseball doubleheaders this coming week. After playing host to Coahoma on Monday (March 25) in a rescheduled twin bill moved up a day due to Monday night’s expected rainfall, East Mississippi is then slated to entertain Mississippi Gulf Coast on Friday (March 29). Both upcoming home conference doubleheaders are set for 2 p.m. starts at Gerald Poole Field on the Scooba campus.