SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College bounced back from an opening-game setback to earn the team’s third MACCC doubleheader split of the baseball season claiming a 12-6 home nightcap win over Copiah-Lincoln during Saturday’s conference action played at Gerald Poole Field. EMCC fell 12-4 to the visiting Wolves in the first game.

Following pre-game Sophomore Day festivities during which 12 EMCC baseball sophomores were recognized, the home-standing Lions rebounded from some early defensive lapses in the opening game to put together a solid team effort in the nightcap.

After the visiting Wolves took a brief 1-0 lead during their first at-bat of the second game, EMCC’s Ty Murphy drilled the first pitch he saw from starting pitcher Lucas Harrington over the right-field wall in the home half of the frame. His third home run of the year evened the score and kick-started his 4-for-4 hitting effort in which the sophomore outfielder reached base during all five plate appearances of the seven-inning contest.

The Lions reclaimed the lead for good the following inning when freshman Caidan Bullard led off the second by launching his second home run of the season high and deep over the left-field fence. Later in the inning, EMCC benefitted from four straight free passes issued by Harrington to plate two more runs on a bases-loaded hit batsman and subsequent walk.

EMCC answered Co-Lin’s third-inning solo tally by scoring four times in the fourth. Greer Manning’s two-run double highlighted the Lions’ first of consecutive four-run frames.

After the visitors cut the deficit in half on Trey Davidson’s two-run homer off EMCC starting pitcher and eventual winner Chipper Moore in the fifth inning, the Lions answered with four more runs in the home half of the frame. Run-scoring doubles by Murphy and Hugh LeMasters extended EMCC’s lead to 12-4 after five innings.

Co-Lin added solo tallies in the sixth and seventh innings to account for the 12-6 final score in the second game.

Murphy’s standout nightcap performance at the plate also included a second-inning walk and singles in the fourth and sixth frames. The Eupora product scored three times and drove in two runs during the contest.

With 13 total hits as a team in the second game, the Lions added two-hit efforts by Bullard, LeMasters and Sam McClinton.

EMCC’s Moore improved his record to 3-2 on the year while pitching into the sixth inning.

The day’s first game seemingly belonged to Copiah-Lincoln from the opening frame. An infield throwing error to begin the game was followed by a double that eventually led to a pair of unearned runs.

Following two more infield miscues by the Lions that aided Co-Lin’s three-run third inning, the Wolves chased EMCC starting pitcher Trace Tingle from the mound two frames later with Brady White’s two-run homer to increase their lead to 7-0.

After the visitors continued their trend of scoring every other inning with a solo run in the seventh, the Lions finally got on the board by scoring three times in the home half of the frame after Co-Lin starting pitcher Cameron Patterson left the game. A two-run triple by McClinton was followed two batters later by Murphy’s sacrifice fly to make the score 8-3.

The Wolves added four more runs in the ninth inning to cap the team’s 17-hit performance in the opener.

McClinton led EMCC’s eight-hit team effort with a pair of hits in the loss.

Head coach Brett Kimbrel’s EMCC Lions (18-16, 5-9 MACCC) hit the road for a pair of conference doubleheaders this coming week by playing at Itawamba and Meridian on Wednesday and Saturday respectively.