MERIDIAN – Hinds Community College baseball split the weekend double-header with eighth ranked Meridian Community College on Saturday.
Despite falling 8-7 and surrendering a late game comeback in game one, Hinds fought back to take game two from Meridian 4-3.
Head coach
Dan Rives was proud of his team's response to game one.
"This was another big test for our club and I'm proud of our response in game two after a tough loss in game one," Rives said. "We still have some things to clean up, but playing teams like Meridian will better prepare us for conference play."
Game One
The Eagle offense exploded late in game one, scoring two runs in the sixth inning and five more in the seventh inning. Sophomore outfielder
Justin Williams (Madison) got the party started with a solo homerun to left field to cut into the Meridian lead. In the same inning,
Josh Rodriguez (Belleville, NJ) scored
Vantrel Reed (Vicksburg) on a single to left field.
One inning later, the Eagles put up a five-spot with the help of two doubles by
Cole Smith (Florence) and
Reed Kellum (Jackson). Kellum would finish game one going 2-4 and driving in three runs.
Sophomore pitcher
Holland Townes (Ridgeland) started game one on the mound and went 6.1 innings, striking out six and surrendering seven hits and five earned runs.
Tate Duncan (Columbia) and
Nasson Rodriguez (Madison) came in and threw 1.2 innings of relief work to close out the game.
Game Two
Sophomore southpaw
Gage Bihm (Washington, LA) would pick up his third win of the season in game two of the double-header. Bihm's final line included 5.2 innings of work, six hits, three earned runs and four strikeouts.
Jake-Riley Gunn (Hattiesburg) and
Vantrel Reed closed out the seven-inning game in relief.
The scoring started for the Eagles in the fourth inning where sophomore shortstop
Gavin Mink (Olive Branch) singled in
Connor Chisolm (Madison) and Rodriguez. Mink would get his third and final RBI two innings later when he singled to score
Josh Rodriguez to push the Eagle lead to 3-1.
Josh Rodriguez would finish 2-3 at the plate. That same inning,
Vantrel Reed reached on an error to score
Clayton Thurman (Vicksburg).
Vantrel Reed would slam the door in the seventh inning to give the Eagles the 4-3 victory and series split with Meridian.
The Eagles are back in action tomorrow when they host a round robin with Mississippi Delta and Southwest. Games will be played at Sports Force Park in Vicksburg due to weather. Games will begin at 12 p.m. and will be streamed on hindsccsports.net.
