Gulf Coast loses twice to No. 19 ECCC

Mississippi Gulf Coast took a seventh-inning lead in the opening game of a baseball doubleheader at East Central on Thursday but couldn't make it stand up on the way to getting swept in Decatur.

The 19th-ranked Warriors (13-7, 10-2 MACCC) maintained its grip on the top spot in the conference with 7-5 and 10-2 victories, while the Bulldogs (8-10, 5-5) fell back to .500 in league play.

Each of Gulf Coast's first 10 games has been against teams ranked in the NJCAA top-20 at the time the Bulldogs faced them.

Gulf Coast erased a three-run deficit in the sixth inning of the first game by getting an RBI single from Dawson Walters (Fr., Flora/Tri-County Academy)  and an RBI double by Canaan Ray (Fr., Poplarville/Poplarville). Josh Cary made it 4-4 with a squeeze bunt to score Walters.

Drake Henderson (Fr., Sand Hill/Greene County) drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out double in the seventh, but ECCC scored three times with two outs in the bottom of the inning for the win.

P.J. Harrison (Fr., Gulfport/Harrison Central) also had a double. Flowers allowed just one earned run in his six-inning start.

East Central scored six times in the fifth inning of the second game to pull away in the second game.

Henderson had two more hits, and Cary had a double.

For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.