No. 9 Pearl River rebounds with sweep of No. 7 Itawamba
Published 1:29 pm Monday, April 18, 2022
PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast got two more outstanding pitching performances Friday at Ken “Curly” Farris Field but only got one win out of it after the bats woke up late.
The Bulldogs claimed their 10th straight MACCC doubleheader split by beating Holmes 7-2 behind Matthew DeLano in the second game. They squandered another great outing from JC Stogner in the opener, falling 3-1.
“I was super pleased with the effort and the competitive fire these guys have brought for a long stretch now,” Gulf Coast coach Bob Keller said. “It was really good to see JC follow up that outing with another great outing. He’s given us everything he’s got, and then to get some run support for DeLano finally.”
Gulf Coast is 15-20 overall with a 10-10 mark in the conference. The Bulldogs travel to Southwest Mississippi on Wednesday, with first pitch in the doubleheader set for 3 p.m. in Summit.
DeLano (So., Biloxi/Biloxi) threw his first complete game, scattering eight hits over seven innings and striking out 11 against one walk. He said he had three pitches working and was able to keep Holmes off balance.
“We finally get some runs on the board,” DeLano said. “It was nice to see that happened. Pitching with the lead is so much nicer.”
He nursed a 1-0 lead into the fifth when the Bulldogs put up a five-spot. Cade Crosby (Fr., Gulfport/Gulfport) yanked a homer to lead the inning off, and Alex McWhorter (So., Semmes, Ala./Faith Academy) and Kade Carpenter (Fr., Vancleave/Vancleave) had RBI doubles.
Alec Hardy (So., Wiggins/Stone) added an RBI single, and another run scored on an errant pickoff throw.
“We just kept being tough and tried to do the things we work on in practice,” Carpenter said. “We just applied it in the game.”
Sean Smith (Fr., Pascagoula/Pascagoula) added an RBI double in the sixth. McWhorter’s other double in the first scored the game’s first run.
Stogner was brilliant again after shining in long relief appearance last weekend at East Mississippi. He went eight innings, allowing six hits and three runs. He struck out six and walked two, but only got a solo homer from Smith in the way of run support.
Holmes (10-20, 7-11) got a two-run homer in the seventh and a solo homer in the eighth to get the win.
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