Another MGCCC rally produces sweep of Hinds

BILOXI – A patented Mississippi Gulf Coast comeback sealed the Bulldogs first MACJC sweep of the season Wednesday night at MGM Park.

Justin Nussbaum's squibber down the line was booted by the Hinds first baseman, capping a 6-5 extra-inning win. The Bulldogs won the opener 8-5 behind a strong effort on the mound by Chris Crosby.

"I thought, 'Here we are again,'" Gulf Coast coach Rodney Batts said. "We're down to the last few outs, the last few innings. I know our guys thrive off that. I wish they would start a little bit earlier. They're in their comfort zone, so I wasn't worried. I just knew we had to get a runner on and good things have happened."

Gulf Coast improved to 13-7 overall, 4-2 in the MACJC. Hinds, which started the year ranked ninth in the country, falls to 10-12, 3-5. The first regular-season poll comes out next week.

The Bulldogs trailed 5-4 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but Michael Shubert delivered a two-out RBI double to force extra innings.

In the eighth, Ian Goff led off with a single.

"I'd been struggling all day," said Goff, who was 0-for-6 on the day. "I knew the team needed me. I had to get up there and put a good swing on it."

Andrew Ryals got a two-strike bunt down to sacrifice Goff to second, and he advanced to third on a ground out, setting the stage for the final drama of the day.

Nussbaum had talked with Brian Lane, who told him to look for a slider. He got two to make the count 1-1, then swung at the third slider.

"I ended up rolling over it and hit it to the first baseman," Nussbaum said. "I just hustled down the line and I guess he wound up booting it."

Goff scampered home with the winning run to end a long, fruitful day that had a rough patch in the middle.

The Bulldogs trailed 5-0 after a rocky first inning in the nightcap. Irby Dossett struggled to find the strike zone, but threw a double-play ground ball that would have gotten him out of the inning.

Nussbaum dropped the ball at second, though, and it opened the floodgates.

Gulf Coast immediate started chipping away. Lane singled in a run in the second to make it 5-1.

The Bulldogs got three in the third, with Slater McCarty singling in a run and scoring on a wild pitch. Tyler Evans' RBI double made it 5-4.

David Warman and Ethan Necaise were shutting down the Eagles, combining for 6.1 innings of shutout work. They struck out five and scattered six hits.

"Our bullpen came and did a great job," Batts said. "They shut them down."

Brandon Kennedy got his third save in the first game and his fourth win in the second. He retired all six batters he faced, needing only 17 pitches.

"Find the strike zone and fill it up," he said. "That's all I can do. Let my defense work, and if I get a strikeout that's a plus."

Lane went 4-for-4 in the second game, and his seventh-inning leadoff single eventually became the tying run when courtesy runner Chase Rhodes scored on Michael Shubert's big hit.

Lane finished the day with six hits, raising his average 46 points to .355. He'd been in a 2-for-16 slump the previous four games.

"I just decided to relax and have fun," he said.

Gulf Coast built a 5-0 lead by scoring in each of the first three innings. Lane had a two-run double in the first, with Ryals delivering an RBI ground out in the second.

Justin Nussbaum hooked a two-run home run inside the left-field foul pole in the third.

After Hinds got a run in the top of the fifth, Slater McCarty smoke a line drive through the wind just over the right-field wall to restore the five-run lead.

Hinds scored four runs over the next three innings, all with two outs, to make things interesting.

Lane had an RBI double in the top of the ninth, and Michael Shubert drove him in with a single to provide insurance.

Starter Chris Crosby benefitted from good run support and allowed two runs in six innings to run his record to 2-1.

"It's real easy to pitch when you've got even one or two runs," he said. "We ended up getting five runs in the first three innings, so I could just go out there and pitch."

Gulf Coast should move into the top five in the MACJC standings headed into Friday's home game against Coahoma at MGM Park.

"It puts us up there fourth or fifth in the league," Kennedy said. "Coach told us this week would be big for us."