MGCCC gets vital sweep over Co-Lin

BILOXI – Mississippi Gulf Coast baseball coach Rodney Batts said about a month ago that he wouldn't look at the MACJC standings until four games were left.

He'll see the standings for the first time the morning after Wednesday's 6-0 and 4-2 doubleheader sweep of Copiah-Lincoln at MGM Park and find his Bulldogs in sixth place. Eighth teams make the postseason and they are three games clear of ninth.

"I think we're right there in the thick of it," Batts said. "We'll just have to finish to get in."

Gulf Coast got strong starting and relief pitching after rain delayed the start of Sophomore Day, with Irby Dossett (3-2) and Destin Aime combining for a shutout. The staff had kept a home scoreless streak for 19.2 innings dating back to a sweep of then-No. 8 East Central last week.

"I just wanted to go out there and throw strikes," Dossett said. "Our defense has been playing well. I thought if we kept them around two or three runs we were going to win. Fortunately, we didn't give them any."

Dossett allowed just two hits in seven innings of work, and Aime allowed a hit in his two innings.

"We're pitching real well as a team right now," Aime said. "I just wanted to go out there and keep it going."

In Game 2, Dylan Mills-Derouen (4-3) followed his no-hitter with 5.1 innings of three-hit ball, and Ethan Necaise got a five-out save.

"I told (Ethan) in the postgame meeting, it doesn't get any tougher than that," Batts said. "A 4-2 game, he comes in with the bases loaded, the tying run right there at second base. He comes in and gets the strikeout and then gets the line drive to get us out of the inning."

Batts left him in to pitch the seventh, riding the hot hand, and it paid off.

Justin Nussbaum went 4-for-5 in the opener, and cracked his third home run of the season. He turned on a 3-1 fastball and quickly put it into the netting over the left-field wall.

The sophomore went 2-for-3 in the second game, and fellow Delta State signee Brian Lane had hits in both games to extend his hitting streak to 17 games.

Sam Taylor went 2-for-3 in each game.

Gulf Coast (23-17, 13-11 MACJC) closes out the regular season with two road trips. They travel to 12^th-place East Mississippi (13-27, 9-15) on Saturday and play Northeast (20-22, 11-13) on Monday.

The MACJC playoffs start May 6 with a best-of-three series.

"Our pitching staff has really carried us the last 16 games," Batts said. "They have really been solid and given us a chance every time out, and not just our starters. Our relievers have been really strong, too. Going down these last four games, it's good that we've got a whole staff we can count on."