It took Southwest Mississippi Community College two tries to finally win in its last at-bat on Saturday against Copiah-Lincoln in the Coca-Cola Challenge.
After having a runner thrown out at the plate in the seventh, a run scored in the eighth — on Brandon Simon’s single — gave Southwest a 3-2 win over Co-Lin. The Bears lost the nightcap 6-1.
In the opener, starter Taylor Riggs pitched all eight innings and struck out four to earn the win with the help of his battery mate Simon.
“He was throwing a lot of curveballs and I went with the pitch,” Simon said of the game-winning hit. “As soon as I touched the bag, I turned to wait for the throw to the plate.”
Steven Mercier slid in safely as the Co-Lin catcher didn’t handle the throw.
Steven Bowman had been thrown out at the plate in the bottom of the seventh, but that didn’t give Southwest head coach Lee Kuyr-kendall the least bit of hesitation in the eighth.
“In the situation like Bowman’s, you have to take advantage and send the runner no matter where the outfielder is,” Kuyrkendall said. “Bowman did a good job sliding in under a high throw, but we came back and got another clutch hit.”
Mercier had singled in Derek Morgan earlier in the game and Josh Smith scored Steven Bowman on a sacrifice fly to give the Bears their two runs.
Co-Lin hit a two-run homer in the sixth to tie the game.
“It was a good pitch, in a good spot,” Riggs said. “He just made a play on it. It doesn’t make me shut down, it just made me get mad.”
Riggs had another good outing against Co-Lin. He won the opener in the first series, although this time he had plenty of help.
“I didn’t have to gas it up,” Riggs said. “I just hit my spots and forced ground balls and again the defense didn’t make any errors.”
The defense held up through seven, and Riggs was a little surprised he went out for the eighth.
“If I was the coach I wouldn’t leave me out there,” Riggs said. “I asked if I was going back out there and they said ‘Don’t you want to be out there?’ and I said ‘Of course.’
“I was excited to be throwing the whole game and throwing well.”
Riggs’ eighth inning paid off, but Simon’s hit didn’t do everything he had hoped.
“I thought it was going to be a momentum builder,” Simon said. “But we gave up some runs in the second game and didn’t come back.”
A walk and a double scored a run for Co-Lin in the second inning before four straight hits in the third led to three runs and a 4-0 lead.
Southwest didn’t score until the bottom of the sixth when Taylor Humphries doubled in a run. Co-Lin scored two in the top of the seventh to make it a moot point, though.
Scoot McDaniel singled and doubled in the second game, while Morgan singled twice.
Missing the sweep was a disappointing finish to a day that started well, but it still accomplished something.
“A sweep would’ve done two things,” Kuyrkendall said. “It would’ve won the series and given us a leg up on the postseason.
“The split kept us alive and now we have to take care of business against Jones County and Gulf Coast.”
The Bears travel to Jones County on Tuesday before ending the regular season at home against Gulf Coast on Saturday.
