Bulldog bats get rolling to earn split at Holmes

Mississippi Gulf Coast bats woke up late to nearly salvage a Game 1 win but then kept on rolling to earn the Bulldogs a split at Holmes on Saturday.

Charlie Keller's two-out, ninth-inning grand slam got Gulf Coast within 9-8 but the Bulldogs couldn't get another across. They pounded out 14 hits in the nightcap to win 15-6 in Goodman.

Gulf Coast reliever Nate Anderson (So., Poplarville/Poplarville) allowed two inherited runners to score, but he and Brody Swindle (Fr., Fairhope, Ala./Bayside Academy) shut out Holmes the rest of the way. Swindle earned the win by striking out seven batters in three innings, walking two.

Marc Stephens (Fr., Orange Beach, Ala./Gulf Shores) went 4-for-5 with two doubles and four RBI in the second game. Jayden Mark (Fr., Petal/Petal) had a double and three RBI. Keller, Sean Smith (So., Pascagoula/Pascagoula), DJ Walker (So., Brandon/Brandon) and Blake Roberts (Fr., Petal/Petal) had two hits each.

Gulf Coast was down 6-2 after seven in the first game when Walker doubled in two runs. Holmes tacked on three in the bottom of the eighth, before Keller launched his NJCAA-leading 15^th homer.

A two-out error in the first helped lead to four unearned runs against Gulf Coast starter Blake King. He didn't allow anything else in his five innings of work, striking out six and allowing nine hits and three walks.

Walker also tripled. Smith and Kade Carpenter (So., Vancleave/Vancleave) had three hits.

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