February 18, 2018


ECCC freshman Ken Scott singles in the first game of a doubleheader sweep of Southeastern. (EC Photo)

Freshmen Ken Scott and Hunter Harper had a flare for the dramatic at the plate and sophomore pitcher Dylan Marsh was lock down on the mound as the East Central Community College Warriors won a pair of walk-off games against Southeastern Community College Saturday, Feb. 17, at the Clark-Gay Baseball Complex in Decatur.

Scott, a right fielder who prepped at Clarkdale, hit a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning of the nightcap to break up a no-hitter and tie the game 1-1.

Southeastern grabbed the lead right back with a home run off the scoreboard in left center in the top of the seventh. But Scott wasn’t done. With runners on first and second and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Scott drilled a line drive in the gap in right center scoring both teammates and helping East Central get the 3-2 win.

The right-handed Marsh out of Lake Cormorant came on in relief in the top of the seventh and struck out all three batters he faced to get the win. Sophomore left-hander Brooks Warren of French Camp Academy started for the Warriors and gave up just two runs on three hits and struck out seven batters.

In the opening game, East Central out hit the Blackhawks 19-9, but it took extra-inning heroics for the win. The Warriors led 7-4 going to the top of the ninth inning before Southeastern put three runs on the scoreboard to tie the game 7-7.

East Central then loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th on single, walk, and hit batter. Harper out of Enterprise then stepped to the plate for the first time in the game and hit a ground ball single to right field to give the Warriors an 8-7 win.

Marsh took over in relief in game one as well, striking out four of the five batters he faced in the top of the 9th and 10th innings and earning the win. Warrior pitchers struck out 20 batters in the two games.

East Central started six freshmen or redshirt freshmen in each game. True freshman Ryan Cupit out of West Monroe, La., had a solid debut for East Central with five hits in seven at-bats over the two games.

The East Central Warriors start the 2018 season 2-0, while the visitors from West Burlington, Iowa, fell to 1-2.

The Warriors will go on the road for a mid-week game before returning home to host the Rush Invitational next weekend.

ECCC will play Bevill State Community College on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at Noon and 3 p.m. in Fayette, Ala.

The Rush Invitational begins Friday, Feb. 23, at the Clark-Gay Baseball Complex on the ECCC campus in Decatur. The Warriors will face Tyler (Texas) Junior College at Noon on Saturday, Feb. 24, and then Wallace State Community College (Hanceville, Ala.) at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Baton Rouge Community College also is participating in the two-day tournament.

Most home baseball games can be heard on WKOZ Cruisin 98.3 or via audio stream and live stream video at www.eccc.edu/eccc-media.