LAKELAND, Fla.  – The Mississippi College baseball team advanced in the NCAA Division II South Regional with a 5-3 win over the ninth-ranked Nova Southeastern University in its second elimination game of the day. MC ousted Albany State earlier in the morning.
 
Billy Cameron paced the Choctaws with a pair of hits while Blaine Crim recorded the only multiple RBI effort of the game with two runs. The duo combined for the only multiple hits of the game for the Navy and Gold.
 
Hunter Mullis (7-3) logged the win on the mound – his seventh of the season – with a career-long outing of 7.1 innings. The Columbus, Miss., hurler's previous long was seven frames. Ryan Lane picked up his sixth save of the season as he closed out the Sharks in the top of the ninth.
 
Game Score: Mississippi College 5 | Nova Southeastern 3
Start: 11:30 a.m. | TOG: 2:38
Date: Mon., May 21, 2018
Location: Lakeland, Fla. | Historic Henley Field
Records: Choctaws 35-16 | Sharks 35-16
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Mississippi College struck first in the contest with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. Hunter Wilson, who recorded the first MC hit and advanced two bases on a throwing error by the NSU hurler, scored on a Luke Yancey sacrifice fly.
• Brandon Broussard later reached in the frame on a fielding error by the Sharks' third baseman and scored on a Trey Pittman single to left field.
• The Choctaws added another run in the bottom of the third as Billy Cameron doubled to right center to score Blaine Crim.
• Nova picked up its first run on a solo home run from Andrew Liberty in the top of the fifth.
• Crim answered with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth as he plated Grant Barber, who reached on a two-out single to right field.
• Brendan Cutting hit the second home run of the day for NSU – a solo – to cut into the lead.

 
ON THE MOUND

• Hunter Mullis tossed 7.1 innings in the start for the Choctaws. The Columbus, Miss., native struck out four with two runs allowed on seven hits.
• Ryan Lane tossed the final frame allowing one run on one hit.
• Johnny Leone tossed three innings in the start for Nova Southeastern. The freshman allowed three runs on three hits with a pair of walks and one strikeout.
• Brandon Kennedy logged the final two out of the eighth inning.

 
NOTEABLES

• The 35 wins this season are tied for the second most in program history. The 1981 Mississippi College baseball team recorded 35 wins on the season – the last Division II, MC squad to accomplish the feat.
• The win marks the sixth over a nationally-ranked opponent this season and fourth over a team ranked in the top 10.
• First meeting between Mississippi College and Nova Southeastern.

 
NEXT UP
Mississippi College faces the winner of the University of Montevallo-Delta State University, elimination contest on Tuesday, May 22. First pitch is to be determined.