Lions set for Region 23 Tournament
SCOOBA — Making their first NJCAA Region 23 Baseball Tournament appearance since 2015, the second-seeded Lions of East Mississippi Community College are set for Monday's first-round contest against No. 5 seed Jones College.
Game three of the opening day of tournament play between the Lions and Bobcats is slated for a 7 p.m. start at Dub Herring Park on the Pearl River Community College campus in Poplarville.
The winner of the EMCCJONES
contest will advance to play the loser of Monday's first game between thirdseeded LSU Eunice and No. 4 seed Hinds at 7 p.m. Tuesday evening. The EMCCJONES loser will come right back the next day to take on the loser of Monday's second game pitting nationally topranked and tourney host Pearl River and No. 6 seed Northwest Mississippi. Game time for game four is set for noon on Tuesday.
The week-long, doubleelimination regional tournament is scheduled to continue through May 20. Game times
Monday-wednesday are slated for noon, 3:30 p.m., and 7 p.m. All tournament games throughout the week are set to be livestreamed at Prccmedia.com/gold. Tickets and tournament passes can be purchased online at Prccathletics.com/tickets. Tournament information and updates can be accessed at Prccathletics. com/region23.
Head coach Brett Kimbrel's 27-17 EMCC Lions finished third in the MACCC regular-season baseball standings with a 20-8 record for their best conference mark since the 2015 EMCC team (29-18; 20-8 MACJC) finished as regular-season conference runners-up on the way to making the program's first NJCAA Region 23 Tournament appearance since 2004. The 2015 Lions squad also earned a second straight No. 18 ranking in the final NJCAA Division II baseball poll.
Receiving votes in this year's most recent NJCAA Division II baseball poll, East Mississippi earned the No. 2 seed for the upcoming NJCAA Region 23 Tournament after knocking off East Central in a best-of-three playoff series held in Scooba a week ago (May 5-7). After the two teams exchanged one-run wins with the Lions taking the first game, 9-8, and the Warriors responding with an 11-10 victory the next day, EMCC answered with an 11-1 run-rule triumph in the third and deciding game to advance to Poplarville.
During the course of regular-season play, EMCC swept seven conference opponents, including Monday's openinground tournament foe Jones College. Last month in Ellisville, the visiting Lions outscored the Bobcats 22-3 and out-hit them, 20-9, in posting 11-2 and 11-1 victories at
Community Bank Park. Jones used a total of nine pitchers during the April 23rd doubleheader, while the Lions received complete-game pitching efforts from Kylan Stepter in the opener and Blayze Berry in the nightcap. In addition, the nine total hits allowed by EMCC'S pitching tandem were all singles.
Offensively, EMCC heads into postseason tournament play hitting .282 as a team with seven starters, including designated hitter and reigning MACCC Player of the Week Carson Gault, hitting .270 or better for the season.