MCC takes two from Holmes CC
By Staff
from staff reports
March 24, 2004
GOODMAN Meridian Community College's long trek back to Grand Junction, Colo. for another shot at winning the Junior College World Series began Tuesday in this tiny Holmes County town.
The MCC Eagles, now 23-3 overall and 2-0 in MACJC Central Division play, opened league action with a doubleheader sweep over a tough Holmes Community College team.
Holmes has been one of the surprise teams in the state so far this season, and owned a 17-1 record going into Tuesday's action.
The sweep by MCC puts the Eagles in a tie for first in the Central Division with Hinds, who took a pair of road wins over East Central Community College on Tuesday. East Mississippi, the other school in the five-team league, has yet to play a Central Division game. The top two teams in the North, Central and South divisions advance to the Region 23 Tournament at the end of the season.
The winner there then moves into a district playoff, just one step short of the trip to the NJCAA World Series.
Joey Lieberman, Toddrick Johnson and Josh Morgan each homered to power MCC to an 8-1 win in the opener, while Van Pope picked up the save in the second game that saw the Eagles win 5-4.
Pope had two singles and two RBIs in the first game, while Michael Murray ripped a single and a double and Kyle Ginn added a two-bagger.
The Eagles, who play host to East Mississippi in a league doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m., scored two runs in each of the second and fifth innings and four in the sixth.
Chris Rayborn (4-0) picked up the win on the mound, striking out six and allowing five hits and one run. Drew Anderson pitched two strong innings, allowing just one hit and striking out three.
Holmes took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first in the nightcap, but the Eagles rallied for single runs in the second and third and three in the fourth to take the lead for good.
Kyle Ginn had two singles and a double to lead Meridian's 11-hit attack in the one-run win. Pope had a single and double for MCC, while Morgan and Murray had two singles each.
Dusty Davis (3-0) picked up the win, allowing five hits in 4.2 innings of work. Jason Phillips was strong in relief, allowing just one hit and striking out three in 1.1 innings, setting up the save opportunity for Pope.
