MERIDIAN, Miss. – The Indians opened conference play with a pair of losses to No. 13 Meridian on Saturday.
Game 1: No. 13 Meridian 10, Indians 7
Dre McCray gave the Indians a 1-0 lead with a single to score Brock Ware before Jaxin Settlemires smashed a grand slam to right to make it a 5-0 contest in the top of the second. The No. 13 Eagles chipped away in the bottom half of the inning scoring on a sacrifice fly and bases loaded walk.
Meridian pulled even with a three-run fourth inning scoring before taking a 7-5 advantage on home runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
The Indians battled back to tie the game, 7-7, when Jackson Lee scored on a Stone Collier single and Settlemires scored on an error by the catcher in the seventh. The Eagles hit their third home run of the game to retake the lead, 8-7.
The Eagles cashed in on an Indian error and pushed across another run on a single in the bottom of the eighth. Settlemires doubled to start the ninth but back-to-back-to-back strikeouts ended the rally.
Settlemires and Collier each had two hits in the loss.
Ty Wicker was the pitcher of record after giving up five runs, all earned, on six hits and six walks while striking out two
Game 2: No. 13 Meridian 9, Indians 2
The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Bo Rock scored on a single by Hayden Roberts. Meridian pulled even in the bottom half of the inning when they drew a bases-loaded walk.
Ware singled to score Collier and give the Indians a 2-1 lead in the third. The Eagles answered with a two-run home run in the bottom half of the inning.
The rest of the day belonged to the Eagles after adding five runs in the fourth and another in the sixth to complete the sweep of the Indians.
Rock had two of the Indians seven hits in the game.
Eli Akins was the pitcher of record after giving up eight runs, seven earned, on five hits and three walks while striking out five.
The Indians will look to bounce back when they host Holmes for a pair of conference games on Wednesday.