A stirring Mississippi Gulf Coast comeback fell just short in the first round of the MACJC playoffs Friday at No. 15 East Central.

The Bulldogs trailed by nine early but came back to get the tying run in scoring position in the ninth of an 11-9 loss in the opening game of a best-of-three series.

"We outplayed them tonight. I think everybody in the ballpark knows it," Gulf Coast coach Rodney Batts said. "We just had one inning where we gave up seven runs and didn't pitch it very well."

The epic game went nearly four hours, with Gulf Coast (25-20) pounding out 16 hits and forcing four errors by East Central (32-15)

The teams return to action at 2 p.m. Saturday for Game 2. Gulf Coast needs a win to force a third game, which would be played 30 minutes after completion of that one.

In the top of the ninth, Ian Goff got a leadoff walk, and Brian Lane doubled to put runners at second and third with one out. East Central intentionally walked McCarty with two outs, but the magic ran out when Brycen Burge hit a hard ground ball up the middle.

"He hit it good, but they had the shortstop shading up the middle," Batts said. "I thought the game was tied."

Burge had homered in his previous at-bat, the first of his collegiate career.

Slater McCarty, who would finish with three hits, started the comeback efforts with an RBI single in the fifth to make it 11-3.

"Slater swung the bat well," Batts said. "He hit a ball with the bases loaded (with two outs in the seventh) to center field I thought was going to get in the gap."

Joseph Gennaro, who entered in the fourth, combined with Brandon Kennedy to shut out East Central the rest of the way.

"I told both those guys after the game what a great job they did to hold their offense where it was," Batts said. "That gave us a chance to get going and get back in it."

The Bulldogs added two more runs in the sixth on Brian Lane's single, and three more in the seventh thanks to a groundout and two East Central errors.

Lane also had three hits as every Gulf Coast player but one had a hit. Burge, Justin Nussbaum, Michael Shubert and Sam Taylor had two hits.

"Offensively, we have some confidence going to the plate. It's kinda where we were at the start of the year," Batts said. "If you get the first one tomorrow, the pressure falls back on them. Anything can happen."

MACJC playoffs

Best-of-three series

Jones 8, Delta 1 (JCJC leads series 1-0, Game 2 Saturday 2 p.m.)

Meridian 5, Itawamba 4 (MCC leads series 1-0, Game 2 Saturday 2 p.m.)

East Central 11, Gulf Coast 9 (ECCC leads series 1-0, Game 2 Saturday 2 p.m.)

Hinds 12, Northwest 11, 10 innings (Hinds leads series 1-0, Game 2 Saturday 2:30 p.m.)

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