Vines hurls Bulldogs to split with No. 23 NEMCC
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Northeast Mississippi Community College | 2 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 17 | 1 |
|
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 1 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Northeast Mississippi Community College | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
|
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | X | 3 | 4 | 1 |
PERKINSTON — James Vines threw a five-hitter to earn Mississippi Gulf Coast a split with No. 23 Northeast Mississippi on Friday.
The Bulldogs lost 14-4 in eight innings before Kaden Irving and Keilon Parnell delivered key two-out hits in their final at-bat of the second to win 3-1 at Ken "Curly" Farris Field.
"You get punched in the face in Game 1, and you challenge them in Game 2," Gulf Coast coach Zach Allen said. "We hit some balls really hard early in the second game, just right at people. The guys stuck with it."
Gulf Coast improved to 25-11, 7-3 MACCC. The Bulldogs are in fourth place in the conference after five doubleheaders.
Vines (Fr, Clinton, La./Silliman Institute) struck out eight and walked four. His tightest spot was the seventh, when he gave up singles to the first two batters. Vines struck out the next two, and after a walk, got an infield popup to improve to 3-1. He lowered his ERA to 2.45.
He got the win after Fields (So, Nesbit/Magnolia Heights) doubled to right field with two outs to break a 1-1 tie. Keilon Parnell (So., Pascagoula/Pascagoula) delivered a pinch-hit single to drive him in for insurance.
"Those two guys have been sputtering and haven't played a ton," Allen said. "They came up with some huge at-bats right there to get us what we needed."
Gulf Coast could not deliver hits when they needed them most in the first game, stranding 14 runners.
Tanner Ladner (So, Pass Christian/Hancock) had three hits, including a double, with an RBI. Brandon Coakley (Fr, Covington, La./Covington) had a double among his two hits. Jordan Davis (Fr, Neshoba/Neshoba Central) doubled.
The Tigers had basically replaced the Bulldogs in the NJCAA rankings this week, but Allen didn't worry about that in the lead-up to Friday.
"We keep our head down when it comes to polls and things like that," he said. "We're just trying to win one game at a time and keep near the top of this conference where we're at right now."
Gulf Coast will play its fourth straight home doubleheader on Tuesday when Southwest Mississippi visits. The first pitch will be at 2 p.m.
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