Baseball will celebrate Alumni Day vs. ICC

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast will celebrate the 50^th anniversary of baseball being played at the site of Ken "Curly" Farris Field on Saturday.

The Bulldogs are hosting Itawamba, which is receiving votes in the NJCAA rankings. The ceremonial first pitch will be delivered before the 2 p.m. start by Gulf Coast Athletics Hall of Famer Cooper Farris, who played on that first team to play at the current location.

The games will be streamed at https://mgcccbulldogs.com/watch.

There will be a pregame cookout for baseball alums, and they'll be recognized at on-field ceremonies between games. For more information, contact head coach Bob Keller at robert.keller@mgccc.edu or 601-528-8415.

Gulf Coast played its first games at what is now Ken "Curly" Farris Field on March 13, 1973, against Hinds. The new stadium was opened in 2017, and artificial turf was installed ahead of this season.

Baseball was previously played in the area where Weeks Hall is now, in what was then an open field behind Gregory War Memorial Chapel. The teams played there from 1968-1973. Before 1968, the games were played on the Old Athletic Field, south of the railroad tracks where the Band of Gold now practices. 

Records

• MGCCC: 9-13/2-2 MACCC, T-7^th  place in conference
• Itawamba: 15-4/3-1 MACCC, T-1^st place in conference

Last Time Out

• MGCCC split a doubleheader at Copiah-Lincoln on Wednesday, winning the opener 8-2 before falling 5-4 in the second at Wesson.
• Itawamba swept Holmes in Goodman on Wednesday, winning 17-3 and 8-4.

Previous Meeting

On April 23, 2022, Gulf Coast and Itawamba split a doubleheader in Fulton. Gulf Coast lost the opener 12-11 and win 11-5 after hitting four two-run homers.

Notes

• Gulf Coast is second in the NJCAA with 34 home runs and seventh in slugging (.543).
• The Bulldogs lead the MACCC in homers (34) and slugging (.543). They are third in batting average (319) and on-base percentage (.437).
• Sean Smith (So., Pascagoula/Pascagoula) is second in the county in homers (10) and RBI (32). He's seventh in slugging percentage (.973). Among hitters with 50-plus at bats, he's ninth in hitting (.452). In the MACCC, he leads in RBI (32) and slugging percentage (.973).
• Charlie Keller (Fr., Mobile, Ala./Mobile Christian) leads the NJCAA with 12 home runs. He's sixth in RBI (30). In the MACCC, Keller leads in homers (12) and is second in RBI (30) and slugging (.873).

Three Ahead

• Tuesday, March 21: vs. Southwest Mississippi, Perkinston, 3 p.m. doubleheader
• Saturday, March 25: at Holmes, Goodman, 2 p.m. doubleheader
• Wednesday, March 29: vs. Jones, Perkinston, 3 p.m. doubleheader

For more information on MGCCC's 11 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.