SCOOBA, Miss. – The Indians saw a four run lead cut down to one, but were able to hold off East Mississippi to pick up the 4-3 win and the sweep.
Jacob Hall(Petal) started the scoring with a RBI single in the second, but it was some good old fashioned small ball that gave the Indians a 4-0 lead. Back-to-back bunts by Kyle Crigger(Corinth) and Trey DeSantis(Laurel) set up two run scoring sacrifice flies by Hunter Nabors(Montevallo, Ala.) and LaBryant Siddell(Belden) in the fifth, and Connor Lewis(Corinth) added the fourth run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly of his own.
Leading 4-0, the Indians (30-12, 16-10) had gotten out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth, but East Mississippi loaded them up again in the sixth and the Tribe was not as fortunate the second time around. East Mississippi plated three runs in the sixth on five hits to cut the lead to 4-3.
In the final frame, Crigger allowed a hit to open the inning and the tying run advanced to third on a steal and moving up on a ground ball. However, Crigger forced the next batter to ground out to Justin Medlin(Ripley) to preserve the 4-3 win and the sweep.
Austin King(Fulton) threw five and third innings and struck out nine to pick up his sixth win the season.
The Indians are currently tied for fifth in the conference with East Central, but East Central holds the tie breaker over the Indians. With fifth being the final spot in playoff to host the Best-of-Three Series next week, both East Central and the Indians final doubleheaders scheduled for Saturday will decide home field for the playoff series.
East Central will host Northwest Saturday while the Indians travel to Hinds. Both doubleheaders are set for 2 p.m., but rain in the forecast could move both to Friday or Sunday.
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