The Meridian Community College Eagles headed into Sunday afternoon having to win its second consecutive MACJC State Championship in a very difficult fashion. The Eagles needed to win two games on Sunday to clinch its second state championship and Meridian did just that.

MCC defeated Southwest Mississippi to open the day by a final score of 11-3 and the Eagles won the MACJC state championship against Itawamba by a final score of (). The Eagles now advance to play in the Region 23 Tournament which begins on May 15. The tournament will be played in Fulton, MS on the campus of Itawamba.

The tournament bracket is still to be determined, but the six teams that have qualified for the tournament include: Meridian, Itawamba, Southwest Mississippi, Mississippi Gulf Coast, Northwest Mississippi, and LSU-Eunice.

The MCC Eagles did clinch the number one seed for the tournament with the win over the Itawamba Indians on Sunday afternoon. The winner of the Region 23 Tournament will advance to the Division II World Series to be played in Millington, TN.



MCC 5

Itawamba 1

The MCC Eagles used a four-run third inning and an brilliant pitching performance by freshman Lee Swindle to clinch the state championship. Swindle pitched a complete game and allowed one run, while collecting eight strikeouts and walking four in the win for the Eagles.

“It was a great pitching performance," said MCC head coach Chris Rose. "It is great to win the tournament because we clinch the number one seed in the regional tournament and I am proud of the way be battled all weekend."

Meridian cracked the scoreboard first in the third inning with four runs to take a 4-0 lead over Itawamba. Paul Gatchell led the inning off with a single and Jordan Brown followed with a single to put two runners on base for the Eagles. The first run of the inning would score thanks to an RBI fielder‚s choice by Michael Guerrero to give Meridian its first lead at 1-0.

Trey Jones came to the plate next and drove a hard single to center field that drove in a pair of runs to extend the Meridian lead to 3-0. The final run of the third inning came off the bat of Joe Scalzo to make the score 4-0. Scalzo knocked a single to center field that allowed Jones to score from second base to give the Eagles the four-run advantage. Tyler Moore also added a single in the four-run third inning for the Eagles.

Itawamba ended the hopes of a shutout for Swindle, as first baseman Josh Graham drove a towering home run over the wall in left field to cut the Meridian lead to 4-1 in the top of the eighth inning. The Indians continued to put the pressure on Meridian as Clay Weatherford followed with a single and advanced to second base on an error in the outfield by the Eagles. Nick Wheeler followed with a hit by pitch to put a pair of runners on base for the Indians.

Swindle was able to pitch out of the jam and induced Jacob Kidd into a ground out to second base. MCC was able to score one last run in the bottom of the eighth to answer Itawamba to make the score 5-1. Tyler Moore connected on a home run to right field and extended the MCC lead to four runs. The home run for Moore was his second home run of the state tournament and for Meridian it was the fifth home run of the tournament.

"We came up with those kind of home runs all weekend," added Rose. "He (Moore) is one of those power hitters and that gave us a little insurance heading into the last inning."

Swindle was able to record three outs in the top of the ninth to lead the Eagles to its second straight MACJC State Championship. Moore led the Eagles at the plate with a pair of hits, including a home run and Jones added a pair of RBI‚s on a single.

Graham led the Indians at the plate with two hits, including a home run. Wallace also added a pair of singles in the final game of the tournament for the Indians.



MCC 11

Southwest 3

Meridian (34-16) advanced to the championship game of the MACJC State Tournament with the eight-run win over the Southwest Bears. The Eagles used a six-run fifth inning to propel MCC to the victory over Southwest. The Eagles had all nine of its players in the starting lineup to collect at least one base hit in the win over the Bears. The loss eliminated Southwest from tournament action and put the Eagles into the championship game against the Itawamba Indians.

The Eagles opened the game with a lead-off home run to take a quick one-run in the top of the first inning. Freshman center fielder Michael Guerrero hit the second pitch of the game over the wall in left center to take the 1-0 lead over Southwest. The Bears battled back to tie the game in the bottom of the second inning thanks to a couple of walks. Paul Faulkenberry led the inning off with a single, while Stephen Bryant and Pat Barnes followed with walks to load the bases for the Bears.

Faulkenberry scored on a wild pitch moments later by Meridian starting pitcher Travis Bogue to bring the game to a 1-1 tie. The game was stopped in the top of the fourth inning as heavy rains reached Scaggs Field and forced game officials to stop the game and resume action at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

Meridian was able to come right back Sunday afternoon and regain the lead with a five-run fifth inning to take a 6-1 lead over the Bears. Guerrero led the inning off with a single to left field and Trey Jones followed with a single to put a pair of runners on board for the Eagles. Wes Council followed with a bunt single to load the bases for Tyler Moore who drove in the second run of the game with a sacrifice fly to make the score 2-1.

Joe Scalzo drove in the next run for the Eagles with an RBI single to extend the lead to 3-1 and Nathan Wright followed with a double to right field to drive in a pair of runs and move the score to 5-1. Paul Gatchell followed with a single that would load the bases for the Eagles and Jordan Brown drove a single to left field to extend the lead to 6-1. Drew Moffett drove in the final run of the inning on an RBI single to make the score 7-1 in favor of the Eagles.

The Eagles collected a total of nine hits in the top of the fifth inning that led to the six-run lead. Meridian continued to pour on the offense in the sixth inning as Wes Council connected on a long home run to right field to move the score to 8-1.

Meridian added yet another run in the eight inning to extend its lead to 9-1. Scalzo started the inning with an infield single and later scored on a wild pitch to give the Eagles a comfortable eight-run lead. MCC put another pair of runs on the board thanks to a two-run single by Moffett to make the score 11-1.

Southwest was able to add one run in the bottom of the eighth as Pat Barnes had an RBI single that cut the lead to 11-2 and Richie Field added an RBI single to make the score 11-3, but that wouldn’t be enough as the Eagles cruised to the win over Southwest.

Former Enterprise standout Wade Weathers (5-1) picked up the win in relief for the Eagles. Weathers worked six innings in relief of Bogue and allowed two runs on six hits, while collecting four strikeouts and walking two.