2003

Warriors

By Tony Krausz

.e. He's a soph– ·~.'s got a little ng day Rush .· looked to be a after the first a slim 2-1 lead, ... had only com· its of Warriors Shepard and - 'us tin Rayburn. rs notched two ~of fifthinning but the Eagles ·h two runs of t> bottom of the p it a one-run d six runs on rd in the sixth to an error, a away from lhe ·hot over the ~ignated hitter who led off the : hit by a pitch, ...:mer Corey Lit-

tieton both ~ored on an Prror by Warriorf) pitcher Brent Mc.t~iUan for a 5-4 MCC lead. Eagles left fielder Brian Pagt: added another run to the lead scoring on a past ball, wilh one out. MCC first baseman Kyle Ginn, who went 2-for·S at the plate with four RBls, capped the sixth-inning rally blasting a three-run home run over the right-cenrer field wall for a 9-4 lead. "Our dugout was uptight when we were a little behind, and then, we get a six-run inning,p Federico said. "Then you kind of relax, but we almost relaxed too much. I told our guys, 'It's not a high school game. That is a good team over there that is fighting each inning to scratch back.' That is what East Cen· tral did." MCC left fielder Brian Page recorded the Eagles' other RBI, with a tdple in lhe

second inning.

Nester paced theWarriors· production allhe platt: g ·.,g 3-for·5 with two RBI.... The second baseman recorded two doubles and a s.ingle in the win. The ending may nv· have been wbal the Eagles desired. but the squad was glad it wa:. able to get in lhe early sea ·on game. "You don't want to 1o~ games early because n i. ::.o hard lo make them up later,– Federico said. ''We can'l con– trol the weather. and we ~ere lucky to get the game.-; ;n today. I know all the teams were happy that we got to pia) today." MCC returns to action against EastMissis ippi Com– munily College at 3 p.m. today, and ECCC takes on Jones County Junior College at noon today in Lhe second day of the Rush Classic.

h Cat

E Turner ed the ninth getung hit O) a r>ilch. ~nd Warrior~ ·on baseman Jake Ne ...ter followed v.ith a double. Turner :o;oored from third on a Mid p" bJ MCC Brad ~ ~ ~ .. ter crossed t e after a thr WUlg error b:!i cat her Ric cut ECCC' deficit to 9-S The Warriors ed the J(ame at nine. two batters later after L· e Eagl ... rapped McKee f•x Bryan Eubanks on the mound. Ecce·... \tichad Dunn hit a sacrifice fly to right field to drive home fir-.t ba~ man Justin Darby, who walked during his turn at the platt: m the inning. Eubanks struck out the next batter he faced, but \\ith AF a runner on first base, 'Var· 1 " riors catcher Robby Carey ~ slapped an RBI single lo right S( field with two outs for thl' go· ahead run. UI "Meridian bas a good pro· 1 gram, and it says somelhins:t for our guys to come back late S in lhe game," said ECCC head baseball coach Jake Yarbor· ough. ''It is just a great game , of baseball when you play in

an inlcn--e game like lhis. it's good for our team moral to comeback on a good t~am " ECCC ophomore pitcher jarrod \aughn took rhe mound in the bouom of the ninth to -.hul tCC':- offense down. The Louhville High School graduate struck out two Ea.~les' batter· and induced a ground balllo se(.·ond to pick up the save and <:;eal the vic– torv. \Varriors freshman pitcher Johnathan Sigre~t picked up the \\in. after coming on in relief in the sixth inning. The Scott Central High ..,chool graduate allowed no runs on one hit~ with five strike outs iu 2 1/3 innings of work. "Sigrest is a pitcher who doesn't throw real hard, bul he has a lot of movement on his ball," Yarborough said. "(Sigrest) kept us in the game. Vaughn is our go-to guy

CARTHAGINIAN______ _ NESHOBADEMOCRAT________ NEWTON RECORD__________ MERIDIAN STAR._______ CLARION-LEDGER_______