March 21, 2022
The No. 6 East Central Community College Warriors split their second MACCC series of the year as ECCC defeated Holmes 7-2 before falling to the Bulldogs in the second game 10-6 on Saturday, March 19. The results move the Warriors to 17-4 overall and to 4-2 in conference play.
ECCC's Trey Lewis posted hits in both games to stretch his hit-streak to a team-high 17 games, dating back to February 16. Clayton Cook continued his streak as well with hits in both games, growing his streak to 13. Eli Collins stretched his reached-base streak to 12 games and with hits in both games pushed his hit streak to four. Austin Green reached base with hits in both games to move his reached base streak to eight games.
Game One | W, 7-2
A big start at the plate and some strong outings on the mound helped the Warriors coast to victory in the opener against the Bulldogs.
The Warriors plated three runs in the bottom of the first frame as Collins drove in an early run with an RBI single. Collins eventually scored on a passed ball before Jalen Ayersdrove in a run on a sac fly.
The ECCC lead grew to 4-0 in the second as Leighton Jenkins ripped a triple down the line to right before later scoring on a Cook sac fly.
Holmes got a pair of runs back in the fifth on a double, but a Kade Turnage two-run homer in the eighth negated the runs. Jenkins posted an RBI later in the frame to push the score to the final, 7-2.
Collins and Jenkins led the Warriors with a couple of hits each, while Turnage's moonshot to left allowed him to lead the team in RBIs with two.
Brendon Minor got the start and the win on the rubber. Minor went four and two-thirds innings, gave up one hit, two runs – both earned – walked five, and struck out two. Luke Odom pitched four and one-third inning, surrendered four hits, no runs, and struck out two.
Game Two | L, 10-6
Game two seemed to have an opposite start as the Bulldogs poured in six runs over the first two frames to take an early lead.
The Warriors got on the board in the bottom of the fourth as Turnage drove in a run with an RBI single. Austin Green plated one on a sac fly, and ECCC's Ramie Harrison scored on an error to cut the Bulldog lead in half, 6-3.
Those three runs were quickly taken back by Holmes as the Bulldogs plated three in the top of the fifth on an error, a sac fly, and a ground out. Holmes' final run came in the top of the sixth.
Green drove in another run in the eighth on a single and Conner Hicks plated one on a groundout to cut the lead to five, 10-5.
The Warriors never gave in as J.T. Vance added another in the bottom of the seventh on a hard-hit RBI single, but it was not enough as the Bulldogs ended the game on a double play.
The Bulldogs outhit ECCC 13-10 in the contest with Turnage posting a team-best two hits. Green drove in the most runs with two. Gage Tufnell, Cole Wilkerson, Grant Edwards, Ervin Simmons, and Cade Hall all saw time on the mound for ECCC with Edwards' five strikeouts leading the way. Tufnell picked up the loss in the contest.
Up Next
The Warriors are on the road this Wednesday, March 23, as the team travels to Poplarville to take on nationally-ranked Pearl River Community College at 3 and 6 p.m. Follow ECCC Athletics social media pages for the live stream link.
