Bulldogs narrowly miss sweeping MACCC leaders

Mississippi Gulf Coast was within two outs of a sweep of MACCC co-leader East Central on Tuesday, but had to settle for a tough split in Decatur.

Marc Stephens (Fr., Orange Beach, Ala./Gulf Shores) put the Bulldogs ahead in the top of the seventh before the Warriors scored twice to win 3-2. Gulf Coast had blasted ECCC 13-7 in the first game.

Kade Carpenter (So., Vancleave/Vancleave) and Kannon Varnado (Fr., Gulfport/Harrison Central) had three-run homers in the opener. Varnado drove in four runs.

Varnado, Carpenter, Ty Mancha (Fr., Albuquerque, N.M./Mobile Christian), Sam Mansell (So., Laurel/Northeast Jones) and Sean Smith (So., Pascagoula/Pascagoula) had two hits each.

Hayden O'Dell (Fr., Mobile, Ala./St Paul's Episcopal) got the win in middle relief, and Adrian Byrd (Fr., Wiggins/Stone) picked up the save with three scoreless innings.

DJ Walker (So., Brandon/Brandon) had a home run in the fourth inning of the second game to tie the game at 1.

Varnado doubled to lead off the seventh, and Amiri Williams (Fr., Long Beach/Long Beach) sacrificed him to third. Stephens' single gave the Bulldogs a chance at the sweep.

Brody Swindle (Fr., Fairhope, Ala./Bayside Academy) took the hard-luck loss by allowing seven hits in 6.1 innings. He struck out five.

East Central is 22-13, 12-2.

Gulf Coast returns to Ken "Curly" Farris Field on Friday when Coahoma visits. First pitch is set for 2 p.m., and the games will be streamed at https://mgcccbulldogs.com/watch.

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