By By Austin Bishop/Special To The Star
Feb. 26, 2001
Monte Migliacio picked a good time to take over things for the East Central Community College baseball team on Sunday afternoon.
The sophomore pitched seven strong innings to earn his first win of the season and also smashed a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to lead the Warriors to a 6-5 win over East Mississippi Community College in the Rush Classic being played at Meridian Community College's Scaggs Field.
While he enjoyed his tall right-hander's pitching, ECCC head coach Jamie Clark also took note of the hitting. "The homer really brought us back," Clark said. "It kind of turned things around."
East Mississippi, which fell to 1-6 with the loss, held a 3-1 lead going into the bottom of the sixth. Hal Thompson got things going for the 2-6 Warriors in the inning with a one-out single. Turk Stovall followed with a single, setting the table for Migliacio, who drove the ball over the wall in left-center field.
ECCC took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Mario Migliacio, Monte's twin brother, reached on an error by the centerfielder and eventually scored on a double steal.
The Lions, who served as the visitors in the game, tied the contest at 1-1 in the top of the fifth when Josh Perry reached on an error, and courtesy runner Kent Lewis stole second, moved to third on a single by Ben Mason and scored on a double play groundout.
EMCC scored twice in the top of the sixth to take a 3-1 lead. The first two EMCC hitters reached on errors by the East Central shortstop and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Jaron Andrews and a single by Ben Earnest.
After Migliacio's three-run homer put the winners up 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth, the Lions tied the game in the top of the seventh. Todd Harcrow reached first when he struck out, but the ball got away from the catcher. He then stole second and scored on an error by the East Central third baseman.
But the Warriors came right back to score two runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to an RBI single by Thompson and a run-scoring double off the bat of Stovall.
Thompson led East Central with three singles, while Stovall and Josh Chaney had two hits each.
Earnest had two hits for the Lions, who had five total hits in the game.
Migliacio picked up the win on the mound, while Jason Wooten earned the save. J.D. Harbour took the loss for the Lions.