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Southwest Mississippi Community College

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Marshall receives congrats for his homer

Baseball Michael D. Gunnell, Southwest Sports Information

Bears and Wolves split two close contests

Alex Marshall is congraulated by his teammates after his game-two homer
An excellent pitching performance by starter Jason Milton and reliever Kade Scivicque allowed the Southwest Bears to pick up a 7-5 win in game two at Co-Lin Wednesday and achieve a split in the opening round of the Coca-Cola Baseball Challenge. A first-class outing by starter Zach Rowell in game one went by the wayside as Co-Lin scratched out a 1-0 victory. The games were also the initial South Division games for both teams.
 
With the split, the Bears moved to 8-10 on the season and 1-1 in the South while Co-Lin went to 13-4-1 and 1-1.
 
The Bears took a 3-0 lead in the second inning of the finale.  Connor Goodspeed led off with a single and moved to third when Darron McKigney reached second on an error. A groundout by Alex Marshall allowed Goodspeed to reach the plate. With two outs, another Co-Lin error allowed McKigney to score and Chance Schmidt to reach base. Schmidt later scored on a Scivicque double.
 
The Southwest lead went to 4-0 in the third inning when Aaron Moore led off with a single and later scored on a McKigney groundout. A walk and base hit allowed Co-Lin to put their first run on the board in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 4-1.
 
Southwest seemed to have things well in hand when they added three more runs in the top of the sixth to take a 7-1 lead. McKigney started the inning with a double then scored when Marshall blasted his first homer of the season. Germany Hays then reached base on catcher’s interference and two batters later scored on a Johnny McKenzie single.
 
Using a walk and three hits, including a home run by catcher Jonathan Santana, Co-Lin scored four runs in their half of the sixth to claw their way back into the game at 7-5.
 
But, that proved to be the hosts’ last gasp at a sweep as Scivicque struck out three of the four batters he faced in the seventh inning for his first save of the year.
 
Milton (2-0) gave up five hits in his five innings on the mound. He struck out seven batters while walking only two. McKigney had a double and single in the game while McKenzie finished with three base hits.
 
Game one was a classic pitcher’s duel as neither starter was willing to give an inch to the other side. Rowell (2-1) gave a very good account of himself, limiting Co-Lin to five hits in six innings. He struck out two batters while walking only one. A Co-Lin single and double in the fourth inning produced the only run of the game.  The Bears were limited to a Chris Gill double and singles by Scivicque, Moore and Goodspeed.
 
The play of the day came in the Bears’ fourth, after Gill’s double, when Co-Lin leftfielder Bryce Guess snatched a possible victory from Southwest when he reached over the fence to take away a two-run homer from McKenzie that would have given the visitors a one-run lead.
 
“We were confident at that time,” said Southwest head coach Lee Kuyrkendall, “that a closer would have finished them (Co-Lin) off. He (Guess) made a great play on the ball and, in my opinion, won the game for them. Zach pitched a great game and did not deserve a loss in that situation.”
 
“I was really proud of the way our guys responded in game two after such a close, tough loss to start the day,” Kuyrkendall continued. “Give credit to Jason for giving us a great outing on the mound and to Kade for closing it out.”
 
He completed his post-game comments by saying “This series between our schools is always intense and very well played. Even though we’ve had the upper hand on them the last few years, I’m sure the April 6 games (at Southwest) will be just as close.” The Bears need only a split in the final two meetings between the teams to retain possession of the Challenge trophy.
 
After taking a day off, Southwest returns to action Friday when they host Illinois Central College. Division foe East Central pays a visit to Summit on Saturday. The first pitch for both doubleheaders is set for 2:00.
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