The MCC baseball team traveled south last week over spring break, playing nine games in Louisiana, Mississippi, Illinois, and Missouri. The first live games of the season for the Tigers started slow, dropping their first three to Delgado Community College. The Tigers regrouped after a day off and took on the 11-2 Wolf Pack of Copiah-Lincoln Community College on Wednesday. The Tigers came up just short falling 8-6 but saw noticeable improvement at the plate, recording ten hits as a team. Marving Serrano, Jose Mieses, and Jeffery Roldan all batted in a run while Luke Woodward brought in two.
The team hit the road Thursday morning, traveling to Godfrey, Illinois to take on Lewis and Clark Community College. Coach Johnson's aggressive style was on display in the Tigers first victory of the season as the Tigers outscored the Trail Blazers 12-7. The Tigers were led at the plate by Elijah Bergeron, who recorded a double and three RBIs along with Marving Serano and Brodie Paulson who each brought in a pair of runs. Paulson added a homerun over the right field fence in the 9th inning to cap off the victory.
The final two days the team packed up and traveled to St. Louis for doubleheaders with St. Louis Community College and Milwaukee Area Technical College. The Tigers opened up with a 19-0 thrashing of the Stormers from Milwaukee. Every Tiger in the lineup recorded at least one hit with Brodie Paulson going 3-3 at the plate while batting in four runs, three coming from his second inning homerun. Jose Mieses impressed at the plate recording four hits in five appearances at the plate and a pair of runs batted in. Hunter Cowen and Candido Encarnacian each recorded three hits on the day with Cowen smashing a triple to the center field fence. Duncan Snider pitched all five innings for the Tigers, recording 10 strikeouts in the 17 batters faced. The batts quieted down the next three games, dropping both matchups with St. Louis Community College and their second game with Milwaukee Area Technical College on Sunday.
"We had a successful trip in that we accomplished my main goal and that was to be better at the end of the trip then when we started," stated Head Coach Kim Johnson. "We are a different team now and have established roles for team members to help us be successful as a program. Our offense and defense found consistency while our pitching is still a work in progress. Our kids became much more of a team and learned how to play hard as well."
The Tigers will not be off for long as they are scheduled to host North Central Missouri College on Tuesday, March 20 at Shawn Williams Field. The Pirates are currently 2-18, having lost six straight. Tuesday's doubleheader is scheduled for a 1:00 PM start.
