Fulton, Miss. – ICC and Northeast renewed their rivalry on the diamond Tuesday as the teams split the conference doubleheader. Northeast took game one 13-6 and the Indians bounced back to take game two 7-5 for the split.
Game 1: Tigers 13, Indians 6
The Indians (14-16, 8-10 MACCC) fell behind early with Northeast scoring four runs in the opening frame highlighted by a three run home run.
An error on a ground ball by Blaine Ware (Batesville) allowed two runs to score and the Indians cut the Tigers' lead to 4-2 in the second.
The Tigers would add a run in the third and Eli Hancock (Houston) would score on a ground ball in the fourth, keeping the Tigers' lead at two runs, 5-3.
In the fifth, the Tigers scored six runs highlight by back-to-back home runs and the Indians trailed 11-3. The Tigers added two runs in the top of the ninth as well.
Riley Davis (Collierville) singled home a run in the seventh and hit a two-run home run in the ninth to round out the scoring for the Indians.
Game 2: Indians 7, Tigers 5
Game two started in similar fashion with Northeast taking an early lead on a home run in the first inning, but the Indians rallied and picked up the win courtesy of their own long ball.
After the first inning home run and a sacrifice fly in the second, the Tigers lead 3-0, but the Indians answered with three runs in the bottom of the second to tie the contest.
Connar Gardner (Southaven) doubled and then score on a sacrifice fly by Hancock for the Indians first run and Ware scored as Terris Meeks reached on an error. The tying run scored as Will Verdung (Corinth) drew a bases laoded walk.
Northeast would regain the lead in the top of the fourth, but in the bottom of the frame Gardner blasted a three-run home run to left field to give the Indians their first lead of the day, 6-4.
A wild pitch would allow a Northeast run to score in the fifth and cut the Indians' lead to 6-5, but Jonathan Whittington (Columbus) hit a RBI single to score an insurance run in the sixth.
The Tiger would put the tying run on second in the top of the seventh, but the Indians were able to leave them stranded and pick up the win and the split.
Roe Ketchum (West Point) picked up the win to improve to 3-2 this year and Verdung closed out the game for his second save of the year.
The Indians will travel to Poplarville Friday for a conference doubleheader with the conference leading and No. 2 ranked Pearl River Wildcats. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. and tickets are available at prccathletics.com/tickets.
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