MGCCC baseball gets ready for Holmes

Jeremy Hill is the nation’s RBI leader with 70.

Bulldogs coming off road sweep by LSU-Eunice

MGCCC’S Clint Dempster’s 101 strikeouts lead the nation.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College head baseball coach Cooper Farris sums up his thoughts on the post-season in three words.

“Everybody’s good now,” Farris said.

This weekend Gulf Coast (31-15) will host Holmes (25-19) in the first round of the MACJC State Playoffs. The winner of the best-of-three series moves on to the overall state tournament May 6-9. Game one is set for Friday at 6 p.m. at Curly Farris Field at the college’s Perkinston Campus. Game two will be Saturday at 1 p.m., with game three immediately following if necessary.

The Bulldogs, the MACJC South Division winner, would host the state tournament if they beat Holmes this weekend. The new state playoff format features the top four teams from each division facing off this weekend with the four surviving teams playing a double-elimination event for the state title.

“It gives more teams a chance to make the post-season,” Farris added. “We have to play at a high level this weekend or it will be over in a hurry. We try to tell our players that the season isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon, so we have to figure out a way to finish strong in the post-season.”

Pitcher Bryan Babin (3-0) could see action this weekend vs. Holmes.

The Bulldogs were swept on the road Monday by No. 1 ranked LSU-Eunice 6-1, 5-4. The Bulldogs and Bengals split their four regular season games this season, with Gulf Coast sweeping LSU-E at Perk back on Feb. 24. The Bengals (44-7) will host the 2009 Region 23 Tournament May 12-15 with the winner moving on to the NJCAA Division II World Series May 23-30 at Enid, OK.

Gulf Coast enters the playoff series with Holmes led by pitcher’s Clint Dempster (5-3, 3.01 ERA), who leads the nation in strikeouts with 101, and Drew Granier (3.85 ERA), who’s 8-3 record is tops on the pitching staff. On offense, Jeremy Hill continues his torrid hitting pace. The freshman from Long Beach is batting .473 (11th in the nation) with 11 homeruns (6th in the nation) and 70 RBI’S (No. 1 in the nation).

Holmes, the no. 4 seed from the north, is led by pitcher Will Browning (7-3, 3.68 ERA), infielder Brian Higbee (.351 avg., 5 HR, 42 RBI), and pitcher/infielder Mike Rutland (.426 avg., 30 RBI).

Other MACJC first-round playoff matchups include:

• Pearl River (No. 4 South) @ Itawamba (No. 1 North)
• Northwest (No. 3 North) @ Hinds (No. 2 South)
• Jones (No. 3 South) @ Northeast (No. 2 North)