Missed opportunities doom Indians in loss to Mineral Area
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com
FULTON, MS - ICC dropped their first game of the season after seeing Mineral Area Community College (MO) turn three timely double plays to pick up a 7-4 Game 1 win over the Indians on Sunday.
The Indians (2-1, 0-0 MACJC North) had five runners in scoring position, including a bases loaded situation in the bottom of the seventh, when the Cardinals (3-0) escaped trouble with the trio of clutch inning-ending double plays.
Trailing 3-0, Bryce Williams (Ridgeland) was hit by a pitch, advanced into scoring position on a single by Luke Gibbs (Oxford) before scoring on single by Austin Welch (Hamilton) and tied the game when Welch and Drew Wheeler (Mooreville) scored on a two-out single before Andy Bowman (Millington, TN).
The Cardinals answered with three runs in the top of the sixth and another in the fourth to take a 7-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh.
Wheeler singled, advanced on a wild pitch and scored when Tanner Poole (Amory) reached to load the bases on an one-out error.
Mineral Area caught a break when a leaping third baseman snagged a hard-hit line drive down and stepped on the bag to flip the game-clinching double play.
Ben Aldridge (Tupelo) suffered the loss in relief of TJ Watson (Alltoona, GA).