CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College baseball team opened Gulf South Conference play on Friday, Feb. 16 with a doubleheader split against the University of Alabama in Huntsville. MC (6-3, 1-1 GSC) opened the series with a come-from-behind, 9-7 victory, but fell 5-2 in the night cap.
 
The Blue and Gold picked up multiple-hit efforts from four players in the opening game led by Wesley Sides with a four-hit performance. The Southaven, Miss., native cranked a pair of home runs in the outing and drove in two runs. The two homers bring his season total to a team-best six.
 
Luis Alcantara paced the squad with three RBI as he went 3-for-4 at the plate. JT Vance and Cole Drake each joined Alcantara with three hits in the contest as Vance added an RBI.
 
Kyle Collet (1-0) recorded the win on the bump as he tossed 2.2 frames in relief and allowed just three hits alongside a walk and strikeout. Jack Bell (1) tossed the final 1.1 innings. He fanned one and allowed one base hit in the five batters faced.
 
Trailing much of the contest, Alcantara gave the Choctaws their first lead of the game in the bottom of the seventh as he delivered a two-run, triple to right field to score Sides and Beau Kirsch. Sides opened the inning with an infield single up the middle and one batter later, Kirsch drew a two-out walk to setup up Alcantara's heroics.
 
Blaise Breerwood drove in Alcantara for an added insurance run as he singled to center field. The come-from-behind win is the third of the season for the Blue and Gold.
 
After UAH used the long ball in the top of the first to account for its three runs, Sides placed the Choctaws on the board in the bottom of the second with a solo home run – his first of the season – and clipped the deficit to two runs.
 
The Blue and White extended the margin back to three runs in the top of the fourth, but MC responded with back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the frame from Vance and Sides to pull within a run. However, the Chargers again stretched the deficit back out with a three-run home run from Brock Butler in the top of the fifth. It marked the third of the game, but also capped the scoring for UAH in the game.
 
Caleb Reese delivered a solo home run to notch the 35th of his career and match former Choctaw, Blaine Crim, for second most all-time. The dinger sparked a three-run inning for the Blue and Gold and pulled the deficit to one run again.
 
Carson Herring (2-1) took the loss on the mound for the Chargers as he allowed three runs on three hits in 2.1 frames in relief.
 
In the second game of the day, UAH jumped on the board early with five runs through the first four and a half innings. The visitors from the Yellowhammer State plated three runs in the second, headlined by Caleb Mahan's two-run double to right center. The Chargers held the three-run lead until the fifth when it placed two more on the board.
 
MC attempted another rally late as Drake launched a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth, scoring Alcantara. The home run was the fifth of the series for the Blue and Gold and the fourth of the season for Drake.
 
The Choctaws managed just four hits in the second half of the twinbill and were limited to one hit following Drake's long ball.
 
CJ Lofton (1-1) suffered the setback on the mound. He tossed five innings in the start and surrendered all five runs on six hits. He registered four strikeouts over the five frames. Tristan Thurman tossed the final two frames and struck out paired with a walk.
 
Jacob Peters (2-1) logged the win on the mound with six full frames. He allowed two runs on five hits and sat down five Choctaw hitters. Cory Hagood (4) his fourth save of the season with two strikeouts in an inning of relief.
 
Mississippi College and UAH conclude the series on Saturday, Feb. 17. First pitch from Frierson Field at Dickins-Scoper Stadium is set for 12 p.m.
 
 
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