Gulf Coast slugs its way to split

BILOXI – Mississippi Gulf Coast coach Rodney Batts has an aversion to losing streaks. When the Bulldogs lost the first game in the late innings Friday, the team needed to rebound.

They did, putting a 7-5 loss to Mineral Area behind them with a 15-3 shellacking in the second game, which went only five innings at MGM Park.

"I'm proud of them in Game 2, the way they bounced back and put some runs up early," Batts said. "That's been our focus the last couple of weeks to get out of the gates fast."

Irby Dossett (2-0) pitched four innings of four-hit ball, allowing just one run, and Michael Shubert put a poor first game behind him by driving in six runs.

Gulf Coast (6-2) returns to the home of the Biloxi Shuckers on Tuesday to play Alabama Southern. The doubleheader starts at 4 p.m. Buy tickets for all games at MGM Park at http://mgcccbulldogs.com/MGMtix.

While Dossett was putting up zeros, his teammates' bats came to life. Shubert tripled in two runs in a three-run first, then had a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double in the fourth.

"I didn't see the ball really well in the first game," he said. "I kind of struggled. Three strikeouts, a popup. The second game, I got my foot down and did what Coach told me to: See the ball and drive the fastball."

Brycen Burge delivered the other big hit in the seven-run inning, lining a three-run triple down the right-field line then scoring on an errant throw.

Justin Nussbaum and Brian Lane also had two hits in the second game. Lane and Aaron Nicholson doubled, and Nussbaum also tripled.

"We just needed a win," Dossett said. "Coach preaches you can't lose two in a row. I just tried to throw strikes. It's easy when they put 15 runs on the board and play great defense behind me."

In the opener, Mineral Area (2-5) did what most teams have done against Gulf Coast this year. They took a 5-1 lead after a four-run fourth.

Like they've done all year, the Bulldogs battled back. They got back in the game after two outs in the fourth. They loaded the bases on two singles and a walk, then got an RBI single from Marcus Buckley.

Nussbaum's ground ball wound up a two-run fielder's choice and error to make it 5-4.

Buckley's single in the sixth was booted by the left fielder, allowing the tying run to score.

Mineral Area scored the winning runs with a two-out rally of its own, with Conner Forsythe driving them in with a single.

"I don't think we played very well in Game 1, didn't play very smart," Batts said. "We gave up a couple of 0-2 hits that really cost us and hurt us. That ended up being the difference in the game."

Shubert helped make the 40-minute trip back to campus a better one just a couple hours later.

"We knew we had to come back and get a win to make Coach happy," he said.