Booneville, Miss. – The Northeast Mississippi Community College baseball program utilized an unbelievable come-from-behind effort to pick up another marquee victory for its first-year skipper.
The Tigers scored each of their runs during the final inning to defeat reigning state champion Hinds Community College 6-5 in the nightcap of a doubleheader on Saturday, March 19 at Harold T. White Field.
It was the inaugural victory inside Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) play for headman Richy Harrelson. The triumph was also his first against a nationally ranked opponent.
"It's pretty special," said Harrelson, "but the thing that's probably the most heartwarming to me as a coach was seeing those guys celebrate. I could see them all dumping water and jumping. It was a lot of fun. That's why we do it."
The Eagles, who appear at No. 9 in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) poll, held a seemingly comfortable 5-0 lead after plating three runs in the second plus solo spots in the next two frames as well.
Northeast received a pivotal boost from its bullpen during the latter half of the contest. The trio of Taylor Bobo, Skyler Defer and Josh Stillman conceded just two hits and zero runs over the last 3.1 innings.
A.J. Roaton provided the spark that the Tigers (10-12, 1-3) required during a pinch-hit appearance to begin the seventh. He beat out what appeared to be a routine groundball for an infield single that gave Northeast life once again.
"Our dugout, the atmosphere, everything changed completely," Roaton said. "Coach Harrelson every single day at practice talks about giving 100 percent in everything we do. Hard work pays off and I really do believe that."
Tray Davis was then hit by a pitch while Eric Patterson reached on a four-pitch walk to loaded the bases with nobody out. Eli Murphree brought the first run across for Northeast with a bloop single over the head of the second baseman.
Andrew Lambert came off the bench and took a walk that forced Davis to come home. Bobo dropped a perfect squeeze bunt down the third base line and everybody advanced safely to cut the Tigers' deficit to 5-3.
A.J. Rye and Daniel Calvery evened the matchup at 5-5 with a pair of sacrifice flies that scored Murphree and Lambert, respectively. Calvery's deep shot to centerfield also moved Cole Camp and Garrison Howell up one base.
Camp did not stay put for very long. He touched home plate when a no ball, one strike pitch landed in the dirt and bounced away from the catcher to send Northeast into a feverish celebration.
"They hadn't thrown many wild pitches, so I knew I was going to be hunting it," Camp said. "I was just thinking to myself, 'I've got to take this jump.' Luckily it kicked off enough and I got in for the winning run. That's stuff you live for playing baseball right there."
Bobo (3-0) was the pitcher of record for the Tigers with two strikeouts in a near flawless seventh inning. Bobo, who originally started in the outfield, and Howell both had multiple hits to pace Northeast offensively as well.
Hinds (10-10, 3-3) built a 5-0 advantage following its first at bat in the opening game. The Tigers responded in the bottom half when Bailey Walker scored on a miscue by the Eagles and on a RBI groundout by Ryan Watts.
Howell's sharp groundball allowed Stillman to sprint home to make it 5-3 in favor of Hinds. But the Eagles added seven unanswered runs over the next three frames to pull away in an eventual 15-8 decision versus Northeast.
John David Poss and Watts both had RBI hits in the fifth for the Tigers. Hunter Ivy and Walter Rook were each stellar in relief stints with no runs allowed in a combined two innings of action.