Baseball on the road in the early going

Mother Nature has forced the Mississippi Delta Community College baseball team to hit the road in the early going of the 2020 season. The Trojans were set to play a doubleheader on Saturday at Meridian Community College, but due to weather, Delta will now play a round robin with Co-Lin Community College on Sunday at Scaggs Field in Meridian. 

Co-Lin and MCC will play at 11 a.m., Co-Lin and Delta will play at 2 p.m. and then Delta and Meridian will wrap the evening up with a 5 p.m. finale on Sunday.

MDCC is coming off a doubleheader sweep at Blue Mountain College (JV) on Monday, defeating the Toppers, 5-3, in game one and 6-2 in game two. Casey Burge (Lumberton) and Jatavis Melton (Natchez) each had multiple hits in the opener to lead the Delta offense. AJ Russo (Hernando) went 6.1 innings on the mound to earn the win, while Trace Steadman (Cleveland) picked up the last two outs to seal the deal.

Jake Lycette (Brandon) had multiple hits in game two, and Layne Booth (Taylorsville) was stellar on the bump, tossing four innings to earn the win. Jon Reuben Chesteen (Winona) threw 2.1 scoreless innings in relief and Dylan Greer (Laurel) recorded the final two outs to help close out the 6-2 win.

Delta (2-4) traveled to SportsForce Park in Vicksburg on Valentine's Day and suffered two heartbreaking losses, falling 4-3 to Frontier (Ill.) Community College in the opener before dropping a 4-1 decision to Hinds Community College in the finale.

Carson Chapman (Flowood) and Ethan Rhodes (Waynesboro) each had two hits against Frontier to lead the offense, and Chapman was outstanding on the hill as well, throwing 6.1 innings and allowing only one earned run to cross to factor in the no-decision. Burge was the hard-luck loser on the mound in his collegiate pitching debut, despite throwing 4.2 innings and allowing only one run. He finished with four strikeouts to only one walk.

Melton had two hits against Hinds and Blayke Dendy (Yazoo City) had a double amongst the team's six hits. Conner Wyly (West Monroe, La.) threw four innings on the mound and took the loss, giving up four runs and striking out four hitters. Jackson Vance (Canton) and Chase Morgan (Kosciusko) were solid in relief, with Vance throwing one plus inning of scoreless ball, with Morgan throwing two scoreless frames.

The Trojans opened the season on February 9 on the road in Decatur at the home of East Central Community College, but were unable to come away with a win. In game one, Russo drew the start and fell to 0-1. Dendy had two hits to lead the Delta offense.

Wyly was solid in game two, but fell to 0-1 after giving up three earned runs in four innings in his sophomore debut. Dendy and Melton each had a double to lead the MDCC offense.