Trailing 16-1 in the third inning to Meridian Community College, East Central Community College’s Diamond Warriors staged an impressive rally by scoring 20 runs over the next seven innings but their effort fell short in a 25-21 thriller Wednesday at the Clark/Gay Baseball Complex on the Decatur campus.
East Central (34-13) and MCC (27-17) combined for 43 hits in the slugfest, which included 10 home runs. Three players were credited with at least two dingers each.
Richie Long of Carthage had six hits - a home run, double and four singles - to lead the EC offense. He also had four RBIs and scored three times. Quin Stokes, also of Carthage, also had another impressive outing as he belted two homers and a single and led in RBIs with five. He also scored three runs.
Other Diamond Warriors sluggers included Vincent Kortbawi, a product of Hale County High School in Moundville, Ala., four singles and four RBIs; Donnie Tabb of Neshoba Central and Blake Lawson of Biloxi, each with a double, single and two RBIs; and Andre Yates of Grenada, two singles; and Charles Hill of Carthage, Ricardo Velez, of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, Darmaal Moore of Stone County and Ernie Triplett of Louisville, singles each. Hill was also credited with two RBIs, and Velez and Triplett knocked in a run a piece. Kortbawi and Velez scored four runs each; Hill and Yates each tallied twice; and Tabb, Lawson and Moore scored a run a piece.
MCC’s Kenny Roberts and Michael LaGrange each homered twice, and Ben Kingsley, Darren Farmer and Corey Dickerson belted a dinger a piece.
The Diamond Warriors return to MACJC South Division action Saturday, May 1 by battling division leader Jones County (15-7). The first of two seven-inning contests gets under way at 1 p.m. at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson.
East Central is currently tied for second with Hinds at 14-8. Gulf Coast follows at 11-11 and Pearl River is 12-12. The top four teams in the South and North divisions will participate in first-round playoffs May 7-8 to determine seeding in the MACJC State Tournament scheduled May 13-15 and hosted by the top seed in the North.
The Diamond Warriors are led by head coach Neal Holliman and assistants Michael Avalon and Hunter Vick.