FULTON – Another offensive showcase was on display on Wednesday night as the Northwest Mississippi Community College baseball team (15-10) took the opening game 15-13 before dropping game two in extra innings 10-9 to the Itawamba Community College Indians (15-10, 4-2), moving to 3-3 in conference play.
GAME 1 – NWCC 15 Itawamba 13
The Rangers jumped out to the early lead in the top of the second after a leadoff double by Mason McMillin was followed by a single by Caleb Doty, and an RBI groundout by South McCoybrought home one more to make it 2-0.
Itawamba got one back in the bottom of the third inning after a pair of walks resulting in a sacrifice fly that cut the gap to one. The Rangers got that run back in the top of the fourth on a McCoy groundout once again to go back up 3-1.
ICC went on a run in the next few innings, tying the game in the bottom of the fourth, chasing starter Darrin Randle for Tyler Sullivan who would give up a pair of doubles in the inning to see the game tied at three, and added another on in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly to take their first lead of the game.
The game went sideways in the top of the fifth for both teams.
Northwest piled up five runs in the top of the fifth inning, chasing Andrew Williams from the game with six of the first seven Rangers making it on base and RBIs from McMillin, McKenney, and a pair from Watkins that would put NWCC back up 8-4.
Turnabout is fair play though, and the Indians rallied back for a five-run inning of their own, getting to Sullivan with a leadoff double and using a bases loaded triple to go in front 9-8 by the end of the inning.
That was a back-and-forth trend for the next three half innings. Punch and counter punch, with NWCC adding three in the top of the seventh on a three-run homerun by Barrett McKenney, his fourth of the season, only to see a four-spot added by the Indians when they picked up four runs with an RBI single and a three-run homerun of their own.
The top of the eighth was the final scoring salvo for either team and it was a two-out rally for the Rangers that would hand them the win. After a fly out and a strikeout to begin the inning, Hallas Lawon reached on a hit-by-pitch. The next two batters would reach on walks and Doty singled in one before McKenney cleared the bases with a three-run double, giving him seven RBIs on the day.
South McCoy would move to the mound for the final two innings and pitched clean frames, giving up just one hit in the eighth but turning a 6-4-3 double play on the next batter, and worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth as the Rangers would pull off the 15-13 comeback victory.
GAME 2 – NWCC 9 Itawamba 10 (8 Innings)
Northwest got off to their fastest start to the season in game two, jumping out in front with a five-run first inning that was keyed by eight batters making it to the plate.
Mason Gillentine led off the game with a triple, scoring when Lawson reached on an error in right field. ICC turned a double play two batters later, but the Rangers capitalized on the earlier error to bring home four more runs on an RBI double from McKennon and a three-run home run by McCoy, his sixth of the season.
Doty got the start for the Rangers, and after working a 1-2-3 bottom of the first inning, he ran into trouble when the first three batters of these second inning reached on two singles and a walk. All three would score by the end of the inning, and a solo home run in the third would make it 5-4 going into the midway point of the seven-inning game.
Northwest picked up a pair of the runs back in the top of the fourth inning with a bases loaded walk from Lawson bringing in John Whit Snopek and a sac fly scoring Lake Reed to push the lead back to 7-4, and another run made it 8-4 in the top of the fifth when McCoy worked his way around after a leadoff walk and Reed brought him home on a sac fly to left field.
Doty worked his way through the fifth, giving up two more runs in the bottom half as the Indians made it a 8-6 game on a two-run home run that was set up with a two-out error that kept the inning alive. A leadoff home run in the bottom of the sixth would chase the Rangers starter and he gave way to McCoy with the game with the lead still intact at 8-7.
Mccoy had a clean stretch to start, picking up four straight strikeouts to begin his second appearance of the day, but a two out walk in the bottom of the seventh allowed for a RBI double to tie the game and send it to extra innings.
Northwest had the first blow in extras when Walker Sanders picked up his first RBI of the day, doubling home Lawson, but in the bottom half, another two our rally would save the Indians.
McCoy struck out the first two he faced, on his way to seven strikeouts in the 2.2 innings he works, but a home run would tie the game at seven and an error extended the inning for a walk-off double to give Itawamba the split.
The loss went to McCoy, who dropped to 2-2 on the season as the Rangers moved to 3-3 in conference play.
UP NEXT –
The Rangers will be heading to #19 Meridian Community College (14-10, 2-4) on Saturday with games at 1 and 4 p.m. at Skaggs Field. The first game of the double header will be a nine-inning game before a seven-inning game in the nightcap.
- Article credit Caleb Burggraaf NWCC Sports Information.
