2004

The Eagles' Aaron George started the seven-run second inn,ing with a single past East Central third baseman Michael Dunn to put the first runner aboard for MCC. Sam Self came on to run for George and swiped second base. Toddrick Johnson walked after the stolen base and then sophomore right fielder Drew Van Sickle came up with the first blow of the inning for MCC. Van Sickle drove a deep shot to left that rattled off the wall for a two-run double to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead. Kyle Ginn hammered the first home run of the "ea on for MCC, with a towering shot over the left-field wall to extend the lead to 5-0. "I thought that we responded very well after a tough loss in the second game of the doubleheader on

tage of and I was fortunate to connect on those homers," Ginn said. "It was great for our team to get this win to start the tournament, and we hope to keep it going." The Eagles added their final run in the sixth inning to cap– ture the win by the 10-run rule. Pope led the inning off with a double and later scored on a throwing error by relief pitcher Cody Savell that secured the win for the homestanding Eagles. Jonathan Booker took the loss for .East Central allowing seven runs on five hits in just two innings of work. MCC improved to 2-1 overall and East Central dropped to 0- 3. The Eagles return to action today at 3 p.m. against East Mississippi. East Central will play at noon against Jone~ County Junior College.

mound this season. Rozier allowed two hits and struck out one batter in six innings of work. "I felt really good going into the game, and I made some great pitches early that gave me a lit1.le confidence," Rozier said. "It was great to get this win today, and I think we are pointed in the right direction." Rozier stole the show for much of the middle half of the game, but the MCC bats took control in the fifth to give Rozier plenty of run support. Dillon Sudduth led the fifth off with a double and two batters later Ginn came through with a long drive to deep center field just over the large green wall for his second home run of the game to give the Eagles a 9-0 lead. ''They left a couple of pitches up that I took advan-

Tuesday," Federico said. "We are very excited about the way we are playing." The hits kept coming for MCC as Michael Murray fol– lowed Ginn with a single, and Joey Lieberman drove in Murray on a sacrifice fly to left to make the score 6-0. The final run of the inning came off the bat of Van Pope with a line drive homer to right-center field for a 7-0 advantage. "\Ve give Meridian a lot of credit because they played very well today," said East Cen– tral head coach jake Yarbrough. "We just need to try and come back tomorrow and try and get back on track and get a win." MCC starting pitcher :'viatthew Ro~ier rolled along in the game by tossing four innings of no-hit ball and notched his first win on the