EMCC Lions collect another conference doubleheader split with opening-game baseball win over Northwest

SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College earned a fifth baseball doubleheader split in conference play this season with a 6-2 opening-game victory over Northwest Mississippi during Tuesday's MACCC action played at EMCC's Gerald Poole Field. The visiting Rangers evened the twin bill with a 5-2 nightcap win.

The home-standing Lions never trailed in the opening game after getting on the board in the second inning when Caidan Bullard hit a leadoff double and later scored on Luke Sides' sacrifice bunt.

After Northwest temporarily knotted the score at 1-1 on Levi Lang's two-out RBI double in the top of the third, EMCC got the run back in the home half of the inning on Josh King's two-out RBI single.

The Lions then took advantage of a pair of Northwest infield errors to score twice off starting pitcher Connor McCaslin the following frame and increase their lead to 4-1 after four innings.

The Rangers closed out their scoring for the scheduled nine-inning opener by plating an unearned run off EMCC starting pitcher Evan Hilliard in the fifth frame. Two innings later, the Lions added two insurance runs driven in by Sides and Sam McClinton to account for the final score.

The Lions evenly distributed their 10 hits in the opening game with eight starters getting at least one hit. Bullard and King led the way with two hits apiece.

Hilliard evened his season record at 3-3 by scattering seven hits and allowing just one earned run with six strikeouts over six innings of work. Sam Malone came in to pick up his first collegiate save by limiting Northwest to just one hit with four strikeouts over the final three innings.

The scheduled seven-inning nightcap remained scoreless through the first three frames with EMCC's Otis Brooks III and Northwest's McClain Ray on the mound for the respective teams.

The contest turned in favor of the visitors during the middle innings when Lion pitching struggled with control problems while issuing six bases on balls during the fourth and fifth frames combined. After four walks in the fourth contributed to Northwest taking a 2-0 lead, the Rangers took advantage of a costly outfield error with two outs that led to the visitors scoring three unearned runs. Subsequent two-out, run-scoring hits by Tyler Sullivan and Austin Batts extended Northwest's lead to 5-0 in the fifth inning.

The Lions managed to cut into the deficit by scoring solo runs in the fifth and sixth innings. After getting on the board in the fifth on Sides' RBI groundout that plated Jayson Smith Jr. following his leadoff triple, EMCC had an opportunity to further close the gap the following frame. The Lions made it 5-2 on Hugh LeMasters' RBI single and then loaded the bases with just one out. The Rangers opted to go to the bullpen, and Brady Stinnett responded to the call by getting Smith to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Northwest's freshman right-hander came through again in the bottom of the seventh inning by inducing a game-ending double play ball off the bat of the speedy McClinton.

Head coach Brett Kimbrel's EMCC Lions (20-20, 7-13 MACCC) continue their week-long baseball home stand by playing host to the nationally second-ranked Wildcats of Pearl River Community College on Friday (April 18). First pitch is set for 2 p.m. on the Scooba campus.