Baseball rallies to take game one over Holmes, 8-6

Baseball rallies to take game one over Holmes, 8-6
Lee Adams/LetsGoICC.com 

GOODMAN, MS – In a crucial MACJC doubleheader, the Itawamba Community College baseball program rallied to win game one over Holmes Community College Tuesday.

The Indians (23-18, 11-14 MACJC) entered the day two spots behind the Bulldogs in the playoff race, and with a postseason berth up for grabs, the Indians came out swinging in game one.

After a scoreless opening frame, the visiting Indians pushed across four runs in the top of the second on run scoring singles by Hagan Box (French Camp), Austin Carpenter (Belmont) and Delvin Zinn (Pontotoc). They added the fourth run of the frame on a ground out and Box pushed across a run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly.

Trailing 5-0, the Bulldogs (20-21, 11-14) began stringing hits together that resulting in six unanswered runs and their first lead of the contest.

The Indians trailed by one, 6-5, and needed some late inning heroics. In the top of the eighth, back-to-back singles by Timothy Rowe (Hernando) and Tyreque Reed (Houlka) put the go ahead run on base and a sacrifice by Ty Wheeler (Tupelo) pushed them into scoring position.

With one out, the Indians tied the game on a single to center by Box and regained the lead as Carpenter single to right to score Reed.

Russ Payne (Fulton) pushed across an insurance run when he reached on a fielder's choice.

The Bulldogs put the tying run in scoring position in the final frame with two outs, but starting pitcher Blake Bennett (Memphis, TN) was able to finish what he started forcing a line out to center to get the 8-6 victory.

Bennett improved to 6-3 this season with his complete game performance where he struck out eight.

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