By Staff
From staff reports
Feb. 16, 2001
Meridian Community College once again brings some of the best junior college baseball talent in the nation to town this weekend as the Eagles host the 2001 Rush Invitational.
The Rush Invitational has been an annual event since the mid-1990s and has featured such national powers as Okaloosa-Walton, Georgia Perimeter and Northeast Texas.
This year's guests for the three-day, four-team, round-robin event will be Faulkner (Ala.) State, Columbia (Tenn.) State and Panola (Texas) College.
Grand Junction, Colo., is the site of the NJCAA World Series. MCC has competed in the World Series five of the last eight seasons, including last year.
The Eagles are 2-1 on the season and ranked No. 2 in the country in the NJCAA Preseason Poll.
The first game on Friday afternoon features Faulkner State taking on Columbia State at noon, while MCC and Panola face off at 3 p.m.
Saturday's action has Panola and Faulkner meeting at noon and MCC and Columbia State playing at 3 p.m. Sunday's action has Columbia and Panola playing at noon and MCC and Faulkner wrapping up the weekend at 3 p.m.
Martin LaRocca (1-0) will get the start for MCC on Friday, while Brian Reed (0-0) gets the nod on Saturday and Jason Wimberly (1-0) is set to go on Sunday.
The Eagles got things started off on a strong foot last weekend, winning two-of-three games in the Okaloosa-Walton Tournament.
MCC beat Central Florida on Friday, before losing to Miami-Dade 3-0 in extra innings on Saturday and then bouncing back to beat Okaloosa-Walton 11-10 on Sunday.