The Meridian Community College baseball team returned to action Sunday with a conference road trip to tangle with the Rangers of Northwest Mississippi Community College. The Eagles took care of business with a doubleheader sweep of Northwest Mississippi by final scores of 5-4 and 4-3.  

The Eagles improved to 36-8 overall and 19-7 in conference action with the sweep of the Rangers. MCC also clinched the second-place spot in the MACJC standings with the victories, and will open postseason play at Scaggs Field on Friday.

MCC’s games against Jones County Junior College, postponed to this week from earlier in the season due to wet weather, were rescheduled for 2 p.m. today. The twin bill has been moved to Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson due to poor field conditions at Scaggs Field. The Eagles will be designated as the home team.

The postseason schedule and opponent for the Eagles will be announced with the conclusion of other conference games this week.

MCC scored a run in the top of the ninth inning of Game 1 Sunday against Northwest to escape with a 5-4 victory. Freshman Blake Fields drove in the go-ahead run for the Eagles on an RBI single in the ninth inning to pace MCC to the victory.

Kyle Bayles also had a solid opening game for the Eagles with a two-run double, and Dalton Smith added a pair of singles. Nate Romans scored two runs and collected a single, while Matt Berler added a single.

Spencer Price picked up the pitching win out of the bullpen for MCC by working 3 1/3 innings, and the freshman hurler also collected four strikeouts.

MCC finished off the Rangers in Game 2 by taking a 4-3 decision to earn the sweep. MCC carried a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning and held off a rally by Northwest to pick up the win.

Blake Fields and Kyle Bayles led the way with  two base hits apiece in Game 2, while Luke Craig and Baylor Obert each had a singe. Dalton Smith also added a single to round out the offense for the Eagles.

Former West Lauderdale High School star Ryan Lane picked up the pitching win by working five innings, and Bukhari Brown notched the save in relief for the Eagles.