By Staff
TURN TWO n Meridian Community College's Matt McClesky turns a double play as Bossier Parish's Justin Bourque slides into second Saturday. Photo by Paula Merritt/The Meridian Star
By Austin Bishop/Special To The Star
April 23, 2001
The Meridian Community College baseball fans may not be sure of exactly what happened at Scaggs Field on Sunday afternoon, but Eagles head coach Russ McNickle has a pretty good idea.
The first year MCC head coach said Bossier Parish (La.) Community College established itself as the best baseball team in Region 23 by beating the Eagles 9-3 on Sunday and taking two of three games in the weekend series.
The loss dropped MCC to 31-15 on the year and 8-4 in Miss-Lou Conference play, while Bossier finished second in the conference with a 6-6 mark.
The Cavaliers, now 41-11 overall and ranked No. 8 in the country by the NJCAA, erupted for four runs in the fifth inning to turn a 3-2 lead into a 7-2 advantage.
The three-run homer came off the bat of Eric Emfinger the son of legendary Southeastern Conference football scouting guru Max Emfinger off of relief pitcher Curt McLellan.
The way the game began it looked like the Eagles were going to be able to run away and hide from the Cavaliers.
Bossier starter Mark Alleman was wild and walked the bases loaded with two outs, before being taken out of the game in the first inning.
MCC didn't score in that inning, but did manage to pick up a single run in the bottom of the second thanks to a double by Trave Hopkins and a sacrifice fly by Ben Shannon.
Bossier scored twice in the top of the third, including a steal of home, to take a 2-1 lead, only to have the Eagles tie the game on a solo homer by Dustin Cliburn in the bottom of the third.
It was Cliburn's 15th of the season.
After Bossier Parish hit for the four spot in the fifth, the Eagles scored a single run in the sixth thanks to a BPCC error.
Bossier closed out the scoring with single runs in the seventh and ninth.
Jason Wimberly (4-2) took the loss on the mound for Meridian.
Despite the disappointment of losing two games to Bossier over the weekend, McNickle said his team needs to put that behind it and begin to get ready for the Region 23 Tournament which will be played at Scaggs Field on May 10-13. Both MCC and Bossier have already secured spots in that six-team, double-elimination event.
Between now and the tournament, the Eagles have seven regular-season games scheduled, including a doubleheader at home against Mississippi Delta at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.