By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
April 7, 2004
DECATUR The Meridian Community College Eagles had no problem with East Central Community College on the baseball diamond Tuesday afternoon, sweeping the Warriors 14-3 and 9-0.
MCC, ranked third in the March 24 NJCAA Division I poll, improved to 28-5 overall and 6-2 in the MACJC Central Division. ECCC fell to 10-22 and 1-7.
A new poll will be released today.
Eagles pitching allowed only five hits in each game at Jamie Clark Memorial Stadium. In the opener, Chris Moffett (4-0) tossed a five-inning, five-hitter. In the second game, Chad Catalano (6-1) went 5.1 innings, allowing three hits. The Warriors added two more hits off Dusty Davis in the seventh.
MCC put up seven runs in the first inning of the opener, getting seven hits, three of which were of the infield variety. Toddrick Johnson had a pair of RBI singles in the frame.
ECCC got one run back in the second on an RBI single by Craig Martin.
The Eagles extended their lead with three runs on four hits in the third. Van Pope had his second RBI double of the game in the inning.
Meridian took a 14-1 lead in the fourth.
ECCC scored twice in the fifth on back-to-back RBI doubles from Daniel Harrison and Jacob Townsend.
Aaron George went 3-for-3 for MCC with two RBIs. Johnson, Pope, and Michel Murray each had two hits.
Jim Tally (2-3) took the loss.
Meridian 9
ECCC 0
In the second game, the Eagles played long ball, with Pope ripping a pair of solo homers and Johnson launching a two-run blast in the 9-0 blanking.
Johnson was 3-for-4 in the second game with three RBIs. Murray, Pope, and Kyle Ginn each had two hits for the Eagles.
Leading 3-0, MCC used homers from Johnson and Pope to go up 6-0 in the top of the fourth.
The Eagles got one run in the sixth and added two more in the seventh on RBI singles from Johnson and Joey Lieberman.
Brent McMillan took the loss.
The sweep leaves the Eagles in pretty good shape heading into the second half of the division schedule.