1994

j~ I y _qj

\.JEEK OF

fight to split

jECCC, E

Brawl in nightcap results in 3 ejections By Aaron Derr The Meridian Star DECATUR - East Central :-cored hree times m the bot– tom of the :.eventh mnin!! to salvage a doubleheader -.plit with East Mi-.~i ...-.ippi Monday in a fight-marred game that saw the ejection of three play– ers. El\lCC had beaten the Warriors nine strat~ht times, including the fir t game of Monday's doubleheader 4-3, before }.Jatt Smith'-. .;;eventh– inning RBI double won the sec– ond game for ECce, 5-4. The second game featured a third-inning bench-clearing brawl sparked when Smith wa:; hit by a pitch from EMCC's Wayne Rainer. After ECCC's Dusty lvey singled, Ivey and EMCC second base– man Corrie Willfong got into a shoving match and both bench– es emptied. "It was unfortunate,'' ECCC coach Jamie Clark said. "Fighting and violence has no place in college baseball." During the game, Clark complained openly to the umpires after Smith was hit that the pitch was intentional– ly thrown at his player. Clark said after the game he heard several EMCC players tell Smith to "duck" when he came to bat. Lions head coach Bill Baldner said Ramer was not ordered to throw at Smith. "Both teams were playing hard," Baldner said. "Baseball's a hard game and one guy just couldn't take it." Clark said after the game the incident would be "water under the bridge." ''Bill Baldner does not teach

----~--------~.r~

Paula Merritt/The Meridian St. EMCC's Chris Herring steals second as ECCC's John Herrington goes after the :hro-.o,

dirty baseball," he said. "Baldner told me he didn't tell the kid to hit him. And if Baldner says so, I believe him." Ivey, Willfong and ECCC out– fielder Brooks Bryan were all ejected for fighting. Both coaches said none of their players were seriously hurt during the brawl, which last about 10 minutes. EMCC led 3-2 before the

fight and scored again in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Chris Chism. Neither team scored again until the bottom of the seventh. Baldner replaced Smith with Rodney Batts, who saved the first game for EMCC, to begin the seventh . With one out Ecce catcher Chris Bond walked and Chris Ezelle singled Bond to third before advancing

to second on a throw to third. Brandon Grav, who bad replaced Bryan, singled home both runs to tie the game befo:r:e Smith doubled home Gray to win the game. "We wanted to win tha:. game bad," Clark said. "They've really h ad our number. But I'm no really pumped up after ~ See Brawl, Page 38