Clarksville, Ark. ? Mississippi College's Jarrod Cannette fueled the No. 5 Choctaws to a double-header sweep Saturday with a dramatic three-run homer in a 7-4 game two victory over the Eagles.
Mississippi College (26-6, 9-2 ASC) won game one, 11-3, behind a combined four-hitter by Terrell Prescott and Brock Campbell.
Mississippi College’s game two win was especially hard to swallow as Ozarks (11-20, 6-8 ASC) held a 4-2 lead heading into the seventh inning and Eagles starting pitcher Bobby Osburn allowed just five hits and fanned eight through six and one-third innings. Cory Briggs hit a solo home run in the second to break a 0-0 tie. The Eagles added three runs in the third on a Chris Young two-run single and a Jake West RBI hit to move the score to 4-0. The Choctaws manufactured a pair of runs in the sixth to close the gap to 4-2, and then tacked on one more run in the seventh. The eighth inning belonged to the Choctaws as Bo Bell led off the inning with a solo homer to even the score at 4-4. Reliever Travis Conner then got a groundout, but issued back-to-back walks. Bill Smith came in and gave up Cannette’s three-run shot that proved to be the game-clincher. Mississippi College’s Ian Underwood retired the side in the eighth and ninth to preserve the come-from-behind win.
Conner (0-4) took the loss.
Mitchell Powers, Scott Dietz, Tad Turner and West each collected two hits. Young drove in a pair of runs.
In game one, Mississippi College led 5-0 after four and increased its advantage to 9-0 before Ozarks finally scored. The Eagles cut it to 9-3 in the bottom of the fifth, but couldn’t get any closer as two of their four hits were recorded in the fifth frame.
Briggs (2-3) went five innings and received the loss.
Ozarks will travel to Conway to face Hendrix College April 13.
Topics: Athletics