A six-run ninth-inning capped off by Richie Long’s three-run home run lifted East Central Community College’s Diamond Warriors to a 9-3 upset of top-seed Jones County Junior College Thursday night in first-round action of the MACJC State Baseball Tournament held at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson.
East Central, which improved to 37-15 under fourth-year head coach Neal Holliman, will face Hinds Community College (28-19) at 4 p.m. today in the winner’s bracket game. The Eagles (28-19) shut out Pearl River (25-26) 4-0 in the afternoon contest Thursday. The Bobcats (38-11) will meet the Wildcats at 1 p.m. today in an elimination game.
After trailing 3-0 through five innings, the number-three seed Diamond Warriors got on the scoreboard after Quin Stokes of Carthage belted a double to center field, scoring Andre Yates of Grenada and Long, a Carthage High School product, who each reached base with singles. Charles Hill of Carthage, slapped a two-out, run-scoring single that brought home Kevin Harris of Newton from third base to tie the score at 3-3.
The score remained deadlocked at 3-3 until the top of the ninth, when EC scored all six runs with two outs.
Blake Lawson of Biloxi set the stage for the upset victory with a single and Jerrod Myers of Jackson St. Andrews followed with a walk. Darmaal Moore of Stone County reached base on an infield hit; sending Lawson to third and Myers to second. Donnie Tabb of Neshoba Central followed with a grounder to shortstop Graham Odom, but Odom’s throw to first base was wide and all three EC base runners scored.
Yates came to bat and was hit by a pitch and Long followed with his 13th homer of the season, a three-run shot over the right-field wall, that also scored Tabb.
Southpaw Colton Mitchell (7-3) of Lake shut down the Bobcat offense in the bottom of the ninth and was credited with the win. Mitchell, the third pitcher of the evening for the Diamond Warriors, hurled 2 1/3 innings and allowed no hits. He fanned one batter.
Lefty Ernie Triplett of Louisville was the starter and allowed one earned run on three hits through 2 1/3 innings. He fanned one batter and walked four. Tyler Dalton of Winston Academy pitched 4 1/3 innings in middle relief and allowed one earned run on two hits. The right-hander also fanned five batters and walked one.
Long contributed a single in addition to his three-run homer. Also credited with two hits each were Yates, Lawson and Moore.