Northeast sophomore pitcher Brandon Farley (Cookeville, Tenn.) throws a pitch to the plate against the Coahoma Tigers on Wednesday, March 24 at Harold T. White Field in Booneville. Farley held the Coahoma batters in check while the Northeast offense broke out for 29 runs in the doubleheader against the visiting Tigers.

March 25, 2010

NORTHEAST BASEBALL SWEEPS COAHOMA, MOVES TO THIRD IN NORTH DIVISION

BOONEVILLE, Miss. –  Northeast Mississippi Community College’s baseball team moved into possession of third place in the North Division with a sweep of Coahoma Community College on Wednesday, March 24 at Harold T. White Field in Booneville.

Northeast (12-12, 4-2) picked up superb pitching efforts from both Brad Luna and Brandon Farley in knocking off the visiting Tigers 16-1 and 13-1 in back-to-back five inning contests.

Northeast waited until the third inning of the opener to give Luna a cushion when the Tiger bats awoke for five runs in the third but it was a frame later where Northeast did most of its damage.

Northeast exploded for 10 runs in the fourth and raced out to a 16-0 lead on Coahoma behind a six-hit performance that saw 15 batters go to the plate.

Northeast capitalized on a pair of Coahoma errors in the frame but most of the Tiger runs came off multiple base hits.

Ty Shirley got the ball rolling in the fourth when he led off with a walk and after a fly out to center; Northeast sent 11 batters to the plate before Coahoma could record the second out of the fourth.

During the streak, Northeast head coach Kent Farris substituted eight times from the Tiger bench with only one not reaching base.

Drew Dodds mustered a walk out of the Coahoma pitching staff while Jacob Long reached on an error. Kyle Emison was the first of the subs to get a hit and started a three-hit rally with Emison knocking around a single, Brock Foster and Jimmy Marshall followed with back-to-back doubles that kept the Tigers alive in the frame.

Lee Griffin continued the inning when he reached on an error by the shortstop and Craig Bullock kept the rally going with a single through the box. Northeast’s eighth sub of the inning Justin Jordan got in on the action when he plated Northeast’s tenth run of the frame with a sacrifice fly to right center.

In the nightcap, Northeast kept its offense alive as Farley held Coahoma batters in check.

Northeast scored 12 runs over the second and third innings – including seven in the third where the Tigers failed to record a hit in evening their record back to 12-12.

Northeast picks up nationally-ranked Jones County Junior College on Friday, March 26. Northeast travels to Decatur – home of East Central Community College -- to play the Bobcats. First pitch for the doubleheader is set for 4:30 p.m.