May 8, 2017
The East Central Community College baseball will host Mississippi Delta Community College in a best two-of-three National Junior College Athletic Association Region 23 first round playoff series Wednesday and Thursday, May 10-11, at the Clark-Gay Baseball Complex in Decatur.
Game one of the NJCAA Region 23 series will be Wednesday, May 10, at 6 p.m. Game two is scheduled for Thursday, May 11, at 2 p.m. Game three, if necessary, will follow on Thursday.
Admission each day is $5 per person. Those age 12 and under will be admitted free. ECCC faculty, staff, and students will be admitted free with a valid college ID. MACJC passes will be accepted.
All games will be broadcast on the ECCC Sports Network and can be heard and watched at www.eccc.edu/eccc-media or at WKOZ “Cruisin” 98.3 or at www.kicks96news.com.
East Central finished regular season play on Saturday, May 6, with a doubleheader split at Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia. ECCC is the No. 4 seed in Region 23, while Mississippi Delta is the No. 7 seed. East Central finished the regular season with a 31-15 overall record. Mississippi Delta finished 29-17 overall.
East Central and Mississippi Delta met during the regular season back on April 1 in Decatur, with the Trojans sweeping the Diamond Warriors 4-3 and 3-0.
There will be four best-of-three first round series, with the four winners advancing to the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament May 17-20 at Jones County Junior College in Ellisville. Jones County will be the No. 1 seed in the tournament as the regular season Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges champion. Louisiana State University-Eunice will be the other team in the six-team tournament.
East Central closed out its regular season with a 6-3 win over Northwest on May 6, before falling to the Rangers 5-3 in the nightcap.
ECCC scored three runs in the top of the second and two more in the top of the third to set the tone early in game one. The Warriors scored three in the second on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Clark out of Neshoba Central and a two-run single from Nathan Roseberry, who prepped at Purvis High School. A single by Clark in the third plated two more runs. East Central’s final run came on a home run by Billy Cameron of Mendenhall in the top of the eighth inning.
Cole Gray picked up the win for the Diamond Warriors in relief in game one. The product of the Lamar School in Meridian threw four innings and gave up just one hit and struck out six.
Northwest returned the favor in game two, jumping out to an early 5-1 lead over East Central after four innings. The Warriors trailed 5-3 in the seventh, and final, inning before the Rangers got out of a bases-loaded jam with a double play.
