The Southwest Mississippi Community College baseball team won one game during its tripleheader against Mississippi Delta on Saturday.
Pitcher Ben Colona held a no-hitter through four innings in the final game of the night as the Bears (9-9) won it 3-0. They lost the first two 4-1 and 3-0.
All three games were five innings because the two teams were making up a rained-out game earlier in the season that was on the road. Holmes was the home team for the first game.
In the finale, Colona gave up a hit to leadoff the fifth, but Coty Saranthus came in to collect his fifth save of the year by getting a double play and a strikeout.
Colona’s performance was a good sign with district play starting on Tuesday, Southwest head coach Lee Kuyrkendall said.
“Colona had a good outing,” he said. “We’re going to really need him the rest of the season.”
Southwest scored one run in the second as Brandon Simon doubled and was driven in by Scoot McDaniel.
In the fourth, Laramie Pittman doubled in a run and later scored on a double steal to give Southwest a 3-0 lead heading to the fifth.
In the first game, Cole Newell threw five innings. The game was tied heading to the fourth when Mississippi Delta scored three runs to bust it open.
Rob Thames tripled and scored on Simon’s single for Southwest’s lone run.
The Bears were shut out in the second game as the Trojans scored their three runs on four straight hits in the second inning.
In three consecutive innings, the Bears grounded into double plays to kill any chances at a rally, which were tougher to come by in five innings of play.
“We gave up a couple easy runs early,” Kuyrkendall said. “With the shortened game it’s really difficult to climb back.”
The lack of chances wasn’t the main problem, though. The Bears’ bats have trailed off since their hot start.
“We’re still inconsistent offensively,” Kuyrkendall said. “We didn’t execute when we had guys in scoring position.”
The Bears host Northeast Mississippi Community College today with the first game starting at 1 p.m.
Kuyrkendall said the Tigers should be good preparation for division play, which starts on Tuesday against East Central.
“Northeast is a very good offensive club,” Kuyrkendall said. “They should really help us get used to the type of teams we’ll face in our division.”
Northeast entered the weekend with a 7-2 record.
