A doubleheader sweep of Baton Rouge Community College Sunday concluded a successful weekend of competition for the East Central Community College Diamond Warriors, who won three of four contests in the annual ECCC Wilson/Demarini Tournament.
Neal Holliman, ECCC head baseball coach, said he was “very pleased” with his team’s performance, especially the “resilience” shown in Sunday’s doubleheader with Baton Rouge, during which the Diamond Warriors rallied for victories in both contests.
EC rallied from a 9-6 deficit in the opener to claim a 12-9 decision, and erased a 5-1 deficit in the nightcap by scoring four runs in the bottom of the seventh and sending the contest into extra innings. EC scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth for the 6-5 victory.
“Our guys have a never-give-up attitude and it showed Sunday,” said Holliman, whose Diamond Warriors improved to 8-2 on the young campaign. “Overall, we’ve played well but we still need to improve in several areas and I’m confident we will do so. We will certainly need to play our best this week as we go on the road to face Alabama Southern (Wednesday) and LSU-Eunice (Saturday).” LSU-Eunice is top ranked squad in the NJCAA Division II poll.
Donnie Tabb of Neshoba Central and Quinn Stokes of Carthage belted four singles and collected two RBIs apiece to lead EC sluggers in the first game. Charles Hill and Richie Long, both of Carthage, collected two doubles each and Vincent Kortbawi, a product of Hale County High School in Moundville, Ala., added two singles. Hill led in RBIs with four.
Long was the winning pitcher in relief, as he hurled four scoreless innings and walked two batters.
In the nightcap, Long had a double and two singles to lead the Diamond Warrior offense. Darmaal Moore, a product of Stone County High School, belted a double and single and Hill was credited with two singles. Andre Yates of Grenada had a single and led in RBIs with three.
Tyler Dalton of Winston Academy got the win, as he hurled five scoreless innings and allowed one hit. He struck out three batters and walked one.
GAMES FRIDAY
East Central began the three-day tournament by blasting Andrew College 18-2 and later fell to Wallace State-Hanceville by an 8-3 margin.
Hill and Kortbawi each had a double and two singles to lead Diamond Warrior sluggers in the first game. Also credited with multiple hits were Jerrod Myers of Jackson St. Andrews, two doubles; and Long and Ricardo Velez of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, two singles each. Stokes, who belted a double, led in RBIs with three.
Starter Barry Meeks, a product of Patrician Academy in Sweetwater, Ala., was the winning pitcher. He allowed two earned runs on eight hits through five innings. He fanned six batters.
Stokes, Velez and Ernie Triplett had two hits each in the loss to Wallace State. Velez led in RBIs with two.
Starter Allen Johnson of Leake Academy took the loss, allowing two earned runs on five hits through three innings. He fanned three batters and walked two.
Mississippi Gulf Coast and Holmes also participated in the annual tournament.