SCOOBA — When East Mississippi Community College pitcher Whitt Davis exited Wednesday’s game in the top of the fifth inning, he made sure he handed the ball over to Lions reliever Cole Gullette with a 12-run lead in hand.

Davis tossed four innings of two-run ball while striking out two Eagles’ batters in four innings pitched. He was just as effective offensively. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound right-hander went 4-for-5 at the plate and drove in five runs.

The Lions rallied behind Davis’ strong performance to nab an 18-6 run-ruled Game 1 win against Meridian Community College in JUCO doubleheader action.

“I just felt great at the plate,” Davis said after Game 1. “I was seeing the spin on all of the pitches early, and I feel like I was getting the barrel to the ball good. I was helping the team at the plate. I think it’s my first four-hit game. I started good on the mound, and it carried over to the plate, I guess.”

East Mississippi’s 18 runs ties a season high. The Lions tallied nine extra-base hits, and a total of 20 hits in the contest. 

Hopes of a pitcher’s duel vanished early, as the Lions jumped ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the first. Mike Farnell belted a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Marcus Ragan for the game’s first run. Davis earned his first RBI of the contest in the bottom half of the first with a single to center to score Anthony Hickman.

The first inning foreshadowed the third, as East Mississippi’s offense erupted for nine runs behind five extra-base hit at-bats, including a three-RBI home run by Austin Lowther. Davis doubled to score Ragan and Hickman, and Alex Knight swatted a triple to right field that scored Corely Reynolds. Knight was able to earn a run during his triple after a Meridian throwing error in the outfield, which pushed the Lions’ lead to 11-0 to begin the third inning.

“We were pull-happy early in the year, and we got back to what our normal approach is, which is a gap-to-gap approach,” East Mississippi coach Chris Rose said. “The guys have locked in because they have found success doing that. They were pretty confident in themselves at the plate today even though they were facing good arms, and you have to have that. More than any mechanic or approach, you have to be confident — and they were today. It worked out for us.” 

Meridian’s JD Gann put the visiting Eagles on the board with a no-doubt home run, his 11th of the year, to left field that scored Blake Fields and made the score 11-2.

“The kid works hard at it,” Meridian coach Dillon Sudduth said of Gann. “The game’s really slowed down for him, where he can actually think while he’s playing. As a freshman, he was so sped up mentally that he couldn’t make adjustments. Now I can hear him talking to other kids making them better.”

East Mississippi poured in three more runs in the bottom of the third. Davis added another RBI by sending Hickman home, Wesley Leamon scored on a Meridian fielding error and Armani Lewis knocked in Orrion Bailey with an infield single that extended the Lions’ lead to 14-2 at the end of the third inning.

Knight smacked a two-RBI double to center field in the bottom of the fifth that scored Ja’Coby Cole and Reynolds, and gave the Lions their 15th and 16th runs.

Southeast Lauderdale product Alec Marlow doubled to begin the top of the six for the Eagles, and was followed by a walk from Milton Smith. Blake Morris scored Marlow and Smith with a two-RBI double to center field. Gann tripled in Meridian’s next at-bat to send Morris home, and Gann crossed home plate on a sacrifice fly from Jared Bratton to put the score at 16-6.

In the bottom of the sixth, Davis doubled to center field to score Isaiah Eiland, and Cole, a Meridian High School product, scratched out a single to plate Davis. 

“Davis came out and set a really good tone on the mound, and they were really aggressive,” Rose said. “It’s not like we really overpowered them, because they were geared up and ready to go. But he threw some good pitches and got out of a jam or two. And offensively, we took advantage of some mistakes, and with two strikes, put some pretty darn good pitches in play. A lot of things did go well for us, but we know any team that Coach Sudduth has over there is going to fight, and they kept fighting.”

Davis’ four hits were a team high. Ragan and Knight added three, and Hickman, Farnell, Lowther and Cole added two hits apiece.

Gann paced the Eagles with three hits, and Chase Coker and Morris added two each. 

GAME 2

EMCC 3, MCC 2 

Austin Lowther had a walkoff home run in the bottom of the eighth for the Lions as EMCC completed the sweep Wednesday. 

The Lions (19-13, 9-9) will host Pearl River Community College for a doubleheader Saturday, while MCC (21-15, 10-10) will play at Northwest Mississippi Community College Saturday in a doubleheader.