Battling to earn a chance to host a first-round playoff series, the No. 15 East Central Community College Warriors swept a baseball doubleheader from the Southwest Mississippi Community College Bears Tuesday in Decatur.

East Central won the opener 3-2 and followed that with a 4-2 win in the nightcap on Sophomore Day at the Clark/Gay Baseball Complex.

 With the wins, the Warriors improved to 31-15 and 19-9 in Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges league play. Southwest dropped to 20-20 and 9-15.

 East Central currently stands in third place in the MACJC standings and will play in a best-of-three first-round playoff series May 6-7. The Warriors will host if they finish in the top four, but several MACJC teams still have regular season league games to play.

 An RBI single by freshman Cole Prestegard in the bottom of the fifth inning broke a 2-2 tie and gave East Central the 3-2 win in Game 1. Prestegard, a product of Huntsville (Ala.) High School, also homered in the third. Sophomore catcher Michael Davis out of Clinton High School drove in the other Warrior run in the second on a two-out single after freshman Blake Paben out of Madison Central doubled.

 Freshman right-hander Hagan Brown out of Gautier High School picked up the win in relief.

 A three-run fourth inning helped East Central to the 4-2 Game 2 win. An RBI triple by Matt Mitchell of Lake High School, a wild pitch, and an RBI single by Nathan Roseberry of Purvis High School provided the scoring for the Warriors in the fourth.

 Starter Luke Yancey threw 5 1/3 innings of four-hit baseball to pick up the win on the mound. Yancey, a freshman left-hander out of East Rankin Academy, struck out nine Bear batters.

 Channing Wall out of Louisville High School picked up a save in each game. For the afternoon, East Central pitchers struck out 18 batters.