Meridian Community College’s Chase Coker gets back to first base against Mississippi Delta Community College’s Payton Lane on a pick off attempt by the catcher Tuesday afternoon.

The Mississippi Delta Community College Trojans entered Monday’s twinbill against Meridian Community College sporting a 21-6 record and a No. 16 ranking in the National Junior College Baseball Poll. 

Dillon Sudduth’s Eagles put a damper on the Trojans’ party, battling back from a 4-1 deficit to claim the 9-7 win and later earning the sweep with a 3-2 win in Game 2.

In the opener, Sudduth credited his team’s pitching for allowing the Eagles to overcome the early deficit. 

“I thought (starting pitcher) Bukhari Brown did a great job giving us a chance to stay in the game, and Yarb (middle reliever Caleb Yarborough) hung zeroes and kept us in the game,” Sudduth said. 

Brown started the game on the mound for MCC and went three innings, giving up two earned runs off three hits while issuing two walks and ringing up one strikeout. 

Yarborough took the mound in the top of the fourth with runners on first and second with one out. He struck out one Trojan hitter and induced a groundout to end the inning. 

The Eagles got the score to 4-3 entering the seventh inning and took a 7-4 lead off of a J D Gann blast that cleared the centerfield wall for a three-run homer. 

Delta answered with four runs, with two coming off Eagles closer Logan McDowell in the eighth inning. 

The Eagles, however, wouldn’t allow Mississippi Delta to retake the lead. In the bottom of the eighth inning Milton Smith reached on an error and stole second. Then, after Luke Craig was hit by a pitch, Zack Carter walked to bring up up Gann with the bases loaded. Gann drew a walk that brought Smith in, and Chase Coker followed that with an RBI fielder’s choice to give MCC a 9-7 lead heading into the top of the ninth. 

McDowell got a fly out before giving up a double that gave Mississippi Delta some momentum, but McDowell struck out the next batter, battling through a nine-pitch at bat. He walked the next hitter, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate, but McDowell struck him out to end the contest. 

Meridian was led at the plate by Smith’s three singles off six attempts and scored three runs. Gann had a three-run shot with four RBIs. Former Northeast Lauderdale standout Landon Keller had two singles in four attempts. 

MCC 4, MISS. DELTA 3

MCC finished off the sweep of Mississippi Delta in Game 2 behind a stellar pitching performance and timely hitting.  

The game was tied 2-2 going into the bottom of the fifth inning, and Gann put the Eagles up for good on a sacrifice bunt that plated Smith to help MCC earn the one-run victory. Coker also had a solo home run off the scoreboard in the second inning, and Carter drove in one run in the contest on a sacrifice fly.

Logan McDowell drew the start on the mound after earning the Game 1 victory and pitched 4 1/3 innings, tallying nine strikeouts. Connor Cosse got the win out of the bullpen for MCC by working 2 2/3 innings and notching four strikeouts.

MCC improved to 17-11 overall and 6-6 in conference play with the sweep of Mississippi Delta. MCC has also won four straight conference games and are right back in the  middle of the race in the MACJC. The Eagles will return to action this Saturday for yet another pair of conference games as Pearl River Community College will make the trip to Scaggs Field. The first pitch of the doubleheader between the two schools will begin at 5 p.m.

Robby Atkinson contributed to this report.