February 7, 2021
East Central’s Gage Tufnell got the win over Jones in game one. (EC Photo)
It was a cloudy, chilly home opener for the East Central Community College Warriors as they took on the No. 12 Jones College Bobcats. The teams split with the Warriors taking the opener 10-3 and Jones winning game two, 6-3. The split moves both ECCC and the Bobcats to 1-3 on the season.
Game One | W, 10-3
A leadoff walk got the Warriors on the base paths early in the contest, and a passed ball moved Clayton Cook (Mize) to second base before a blooper to left from Amani Larry (Bossier City, La.) put Mize on third. Larry stole second putting a pair of Warriors in scoring position. Jesse Boydstun (Louisville) drove in one run on what would have been a fielder's choice, but the throw went wide allowing Boydstun to reach safely. Larry took advantage of the throw and also scored, putting the Warriors on top early, 2-0.
In the top of the fifth, the Bobcats got a runner in scoring position with a stand-up double to lead things off, but the Warriors erased that opportunity with a line drive to Larry at second and a quick flip to the shortstop got a much-needed double play. The Warriors preserved their 2-0 lead going into the bottom half of the inning.
The Warriors took that defensive momentum to the plate in the bottom of the frame with a pair of singles from Conner Hicks (Stringer) and Cook to lead things off. Trey Lewis (Silas, Ala.) then moved the runners to scoring position with a perfect sacrifice bunt before Larry loaded the bases after getting hit by a pitch. Jacob Holifield (Semmes, Ala.) came up in a big way with an RBI-single to the right-field gap which pushed in two runs. Kade Turnage (Picayune) kept it going with a shot off the right-field wall to plate two more runs, growing the ECCC lead to 6-0.
The Bobcats scratched in two runs in the top of the seventh with an RBI single and a balk call, but the Warriors rallied in the bottom half with two more RBIs from Turnage on a single and another two runs on a pair of throwing errors by the Bobcats. The big inning put ECCC on top, 10-2. The Bobcats pushed in one more run, but it was too-little-too-late as the Warriors won it.
Gage Tufnell (Hurly) got the win for the Warriors. He went six and a third and allowed just one run on five hits. Gates Pee (Clinton) and Miles Miller (Toomsuba) also saw time on the mound in relief. Preston Ratliff took the loss for Jones College.
Turnage led the way for East Central at the dish as he drove in four runs on two hits. J.T. Vance (Union) and Conner Hicks (Stringer) joined him as the only Warriors with multiple hits.
Game Two | L, 6-3
The Bobcats got an early lead in the nightcap with a solo homer in the top of the second inning by Jesse Johnson and added another in the top of the third after taking advantage of an East Central error to take a 2-0 lead. That lead grew to 4-0 in the top of the fourth with a two-out, stand-up RBI double and to 5-0 in the top of the fifth with another solo homer.
Vance got the Warriors on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth with a deep, sacrifice fly to center with the bases loaded. Boydstun added another in the bottom of the sixth with a rocket, RBI-double to deep right field that plated Larry and cut the Bobcats' lead to 6-2.
The Warriors mounted a rally in the bottom of the seventh and got one across, but that was all she wrote as the Bobcats took it, 6-3.
Walker Johnson (Mantee) took the loss for the Warriors. He went three innings, allowing two runs on two hits and striking out four while Wyatt Blalock got the win for the Bobcats.
The Warriors are back in action on Tuesday, Feb. 9 as the team travels to Perkinston to face the Mississippi Gulf Coast Bulldogs in a twinbill beginning at 2 p.m.
