Raymond, Miss. – The nationally ranked Northeast Mississippi Community College baseball team could not put all the pieces together on Friday afternoon in their first contests of the 2014 season against in-state competition.
The Tigers, who sit at No. 20 in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) poll, were swept by Hinds Community College in a pair of run-rule shortened games by scores of 18-8 and 18-4 at Joe G. Moss Field.
Northeast got the doubleheader started on the right note with two runs in the top of the first, but the contest went downhill from that point.
The Eagles scored five runs in each of the next two frames. A seven-spot in the third gave Hinds (3-5) a 17-6 advantage before finishing the matchup early.
Landon Boyd (0-2) did not make it out of the second inning and took the loss. He allowed seven runs, five of them earned, with two walks and a strikeout.
Three relievers followed Boyd with Mason Maxey delivering a solid performance. The New Albany native had a clean 2.1 innings on the hill and two strikeouts.
Trent Turner led Northeast at the plate in the opening game with two hits, one a triple in the gap, two runs scored and a RBI.
Easton Hall and Riley Alef both had two singles and a RBI in the initial contest of the afternoon.
The Tigers and Hinds were tied 4-4 after 1.5 innings, but the Eagles dialed in for 14 runs over the next three frames to put the game out of reach.
David Gibson (0-1) was the loser in his first start of the campaign. He gave up 10 runs on just four hits, one on a homer by Brian Mills.
Hunt Halford and Tyler Nelms had scoreless relief stints behind Gibson for Northeast (1-5), which had 11 errors in the two-game series.
Colby Williams, Heath Wood, Scott Pala and Turner all had RBIs in the final matchup. Blake Frazier also legged out a double for the first hit of his sophomore season.
Northeast looks to get going in the right direction on Sunday (February 23) when Lake Land (Ill.) College visits Booneville for a doubleheader. The Tigers and Lakers are scheduled for a 12:30 p.m. first pitch at Harold T. White Field.