2005

WEEK OF fh?vt d-

Warriors 10 • • Will Ill innings By Tony Krausz sports editor PERKINSTON- Corey Coward ripped a single up the m_iddle for one run and Marcus Davts scored on an error during the same play to of the lOth inning, and ECCC hung on to defeat Mississippi Delta Com– munity College 9-7 in 10 innings in a winners' bracket game at the Region XXIII Baseball Tournament ECCC - which hasn't lost a game in the regional -advanced to the championship game at 1 p.m. today, needing to win just on_e game to move into the Super Regwnal at Fort Smith, Ark. They will play the winner of Saturday's game between Meridian Community College and Mississippi Delta. "It was overwhelming," said Coward who went 2-for-6 with two RBis, or' the game winning hit. "We came back and got control of t~e game, and we got the lucky, wtn- ning hit." . . ECCC finally had to dip mto tts bullpen to win a game in the contest against MDCC (26-23). The Warriors, whose first two starters in the tournament went the distance, used four pitchers to top the Trojans, with ECCC c!os~r Kevin Hatch earning the wm m C:aa WArrlnr<~ propel East Cen– tral Community College to an extra-inning win on Saturday. Coward's HBl single broke a 7- run tie in the top

field wall in the top of the fourth inning. ECCC designated hitter Ross Pine drove in another run with a single in the top of the fifth, and Will Pearson brought home a run with a double that bounced off the first-base bag for a 5-0 War– rior lead. MDCC tied the game at 5 in the bottom of the fifth, scoring off four hits and an error. Trojans first baseman Neal Henry scorCf.l his team's first run on a wild pitch, and MDCC's Jacob Maggard, Brandon Herring, Trent Jen– nings and Mike Banchetti each drove in one runs. ECCC responded with a run in the top of the sixth to take a 6-5 lead. Chris Pierce drove in Van Wilson - who moved to third base on two errors by MDCC - with a single. MDCC came back in the bottom of the sixth to take its first lead of the game (7-6), courtesy of a two-run home run from pinch hitter Brad Aldridge. ECCC's Marcus Davis tied the game at 7 in the top of the eighth, as Cavenaugh scored on his groundout to the shortstop. "You have to have char– acter to bounce back like that and this team has a lot of cha~acter," Yarborough said. "I told them a few weeks ago that this is a special group, and they can do a lot of good thi ngs is they play together."

From Page Dl

three innings of relief. "(Hatch) just did his job again for us tonight," said Warriors head coach Jake Yarborough, whose team improved to 28-21. "When we get into a tight situation, he is the guy we go to." Hatch, who entered the game with the score tied at 7, finished the contest by picking off a runner at first base, after he fake a pickoff move to third. The Trojan runner froze between first and second base, and the Warriors put him out with a throw from the Coward to shortstop Chris Pierce. "It is a move that seems like it works for me every time that I use it," said Hatch, who improved to 4-1 for the season. The Warriors didn't appear to be in any need of the late-game heroics they used to win early in the game. Coward gave ECCC a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning with an RBI single. Warriors second baseman Joseph Cavenaugh scored in the top of third off an err?r by Trojans pitcher AntoniO Garth who tried to throw home 'after catching a high bouncer from Coward, to give ECCC a 2-0 lead. Ken Gordon increased the Warriors' lead to 3-0 with a solo home run over the left-

APPEARED IN:

CARTHAGINIAN------ . NESHOBADEMOCRAT ______ NEWTON RECORD---------– MERIDiAN STAR _J/L----– CLARION-LEDGER ---------

LAKE MESSENGER---- ---:-– SCOTT COUNTY TiMES---- -– UNION APPEAL----- --– WINSTON COUNTY JOURNAL-- -– SPIRIT OF MORTON------- IMPACT _____ ________ _