By By Tony Krausz / assistanst sports editor
May 28, 2003
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. Meridian Community College's second game at the 2003 Alpine Bank Junior College World Series was as different as night and day to its first game, literally.
The Eagles (39-18, 1-1 JUCO) slugged their way to a seven-inning, 9-1 victory over the Seminole (Fla.) Community College Raiders (42-21, 1-2 JUCO) on Tuesday afternoon.
MCC dropped its first game of the national championship tournament in a night match up against Walters State (Tenn.) Community College on Sunday.
MCC pounded out 12 hits in the victory. The Eagles only mustered five hits in their first game of the series. The Queen City squad revived its stagnant offense in the second inning.
MCC batted around its order, plus two, in the second, notching eight runs on seven hits and an error.
Eagles shortstop Brandon Rousseve started the rally with a leadoff single to right field, and right fielder Brad McKee followed with a single to left. First baseman Aaron George loaded the bases in the team's third at bat reaching on an error by the Raiders' shortstop.
Left fielder Josh Morgan and third baseman Van Pope followed the error with back-to-back RBI singles, and catcher Ricky Newman brought home another run the hard way getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for a 3-1 lead.
Center fielder Sam Self lined a single to right field to score Morgan and Pope. After the Raiders got their first out of the inning, second baseman Kyle Ginn, who replaced Pat Hope in the field moments before the game started, brought in two more runs with the team's only multiple-base hit of the second.
The Tylertown native smacked a double to left field for a 7-1 advantage.
McKee brought home MCC's final run with a bloop single right field that scored Ginn for the seven-run lead.
Eagles freshman pitcher Chris Rayborn picked up the complete-game win. The right-hander gave up one run, unearned, on two hits over seven innings of work, and he tallied four strikeouts.
Seminole leadoff batter Ben Sprague started the game smacking a double to left-center field. The Raiders centerfielder moved over to third base on the hit when Morgan struggled to come up with the ball off the wall.
The Eagles leftfielder was charged with an error on the play, and Sprague scored on a groundout in the Raider's next at bat for a 1-0 lead.
George scored MCC's final run of the game in sixth inning to give the team the necessary eight runs to end the game early. The Eagles first baseman walked to lead off the inning, and he scored on an error by the Raiders left fielder, who couldn't handle the ball off the wall on a double by Pope.
MCC plays the loser of the Grayson State (Texas) Community College/Walters State (Tenn.) Community College at 4 p.m. (3 p.m. MDT) today. Seminole was eliminated with the loss.