FULTON, Miss. – In a battle for first place in the conference, the No. 4 Indians split with No. 11 Northwest, dropping game one 5-2, and winning game two 6-3.
Game 1: Northwest 5, Indians 2
The Indians (29-6-1, 14-4 MACJC) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third on a LaBryant Siddell (Belden) single to scored Russell Bunch (Saltillo), who singled earlier in the frame.
Northwest would take the lead in the fourth scoring two-runs on a pair of hits and an error, but Hayden Palmer (Saltillo) hit an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the frame.
The game would remain tied even though both teams had scoring opportunities, including the Indians leaving the bases loaded in the seventh.
In the top of the eighth, Northwest took advantage of an Indian error to take the lead and added a solo home run in the ninth to get the 5-2 victory.
Game 2: Indians 6, Northwest 3
The Indians didn't get the timely hits they needed in game one, but that was not the case early in the game two as Jacob Hall (Petal) hit a grand slam in the opening frame.
Brett Coker (Hendersonville, Tenn.) hit a sacrifice fly to score Kyle Crigger (Corinth) before Hall's blast gave the Indians a 5-0 lead.
Northwest would chip away at the Indians lead and cut it down to two, 5-3, with two runs in the second and one in the fifth.
Coker would score an insurance run for the Indians in the sixth as he scored from second when Northwest committed an error when the catcher tried to catch the runner at first off the bag.
Jackson Lancaster (Corinth) closed out the game for the Indians and picked up his first save of the year and Hunter Hughes (Saltillo) got the win to improve to 4-1 this season.
The game two victory put the Indians back a top the conference standings but they will host Co-Lin Saturday for another conference doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. in Fulton.
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