Baseball sweeps Northeast in MACJC Playoff Series

Hunter Frierson had two hits and 2 RBI against Northeast in game two May 6.

BILOXI---Tyler Bray threw seven and 1/3 innings of shutout baseball and got more than enough offense as Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College shut out Northeast 5-0 to sweep their best-of-three series and advance to the 2012 MACJC Tournament next week at Itawamba. The Bulldogs (27-17) took game one 7-5 as the series was moved to Biloxi thanks to heavy rains in Perkinston to Biloxi High School and started at 9 p.m. Saturday Night. Game one finished at 1 a.m. Sunday morning…just 13 hours before game two began.

“We were scrambling to find at field to play at four o’clock yesterday,” said Gulf Coast head baseball coach Gary Rath. “We always tell the guys to just control what they can control, and I thought they did a great job of playing 18 strong innings and playing through all the adversity.”

Tyler Bray (8-4) didn’t allow a hit until the seventh inning when Northeast loaded the bases but couldn’t score. Bray gave up two hits in the seventh but got two of his eight strikeouts to end the inning with no damage done. Daniel Wineski picked up his eighth save of 2012.

“Our defense played great, coach Rath called a great game, and our offense came through,” said Bray, a sophomore from Vancleave. “My defense played great behind me and we took advantage of this opportunity.”

“You can tell Tyler is a sophomore by the way he warmed up, carried himself, and took care of business today,” Rath added. “To not allow a base runner until the seventh inning set the tone out there. Tyler did a masterful job on the mound today.”

Daniel Miles had two hits in game two and five in the series while Hunter Frierson also had two hits in the series finale along with 2 RBI.

The Bulldogs have now won five in a row heading into the MACJC Tournament.

“We’ll take a little break early this week, get back to it on Tuesday and Wednesday, and roll into the Tournament on Thursday.”