February 20, 2018

The East Central Community College Baseball Warriors continued their hot play to start the 2018 season with a road doubleheader sweep of Bevill State Community College Tuesday, Feb. 20, in Fayette, Ala.

East Central took the opening game 10-4 then came from behind to win the nightcap 5-2. The teams played two seven-inning games due to no lights on the Bevill State field.

The Warriors are now 4-0 on the young season.

In the opener, the Warriors scored a run in the second inning on an infield single by freshman Jay Johnston of Lake, and added two more in the third inning on a two-out triple from freshman Alex Hay of Lewisburg. Hay added another RBI in the fifth on a sacrifice fly, and sophomore Davis Lott, who also prepped at Lewisburg, doubled in two runs to give the Warriors a 6-1 lead.

East Central continued its scoring in the sixth, as sophomore Jacob Edwards out of Newton County singled in a run, and freshman Zack Hutchison from Wayne Academy doubled in another for an 8-1 lead. After Bevill State put another run on the scoreboard, the Warriors added some insurance in the top of the seventh to go up 10-2 on a sacrifice fly by freshman Ken Scott of Clarkdale and a sacrifice grounder from freshman Anderson Shelley from Greenville.

The Warriors pounded out 14 hits in the opener.

Sophomore right-hander Payton Griffin, who prepped at Hebron Christian, picked up the win in his first outing of the season with a strong four and two-thirds innings of work. He gave up just one run on two hits with three strikeouts.

East Central fell behind early in game two. The Warriors scored a run in the first on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Edwards, but Bevill State answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame.

The score remained 2-1 until the top of the fifth when the Warriors pushed three runs across the plate to take a 4-2 lead thanks in part to a two-run homer from sophomore Wyatt Ball of Nanih Waiya. Freshman George Farid (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) doubled in the other East Central run.

Freshman Hunter Harper of Enterprise hit a solo home run in the top of the sixth to extend East Central’s lead to the final 5-2.

Left-hander Austin Pearce got the win in his collegiate debut. The freshman from Hazel Green, Ala., pitched five innings and gave up two runs on three hits and eight strike outs. Sophomores Tanner Elders (Newton County) and Dylan Marsh (Lake Cormorant) came in to close out the game with a hitless inning each.

East Central will host the Rush Invitational Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23-24, at the Clark-Gay Baseball Complex on the 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 will play Tyler at 3 p.m. on Saturday. On Friday, Feb. 23, Baton Rouge will play Wallace State at Noon and Tyler at 3 p.m., and Wallace State and Tyler will face off at 5:30 p.m.

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.