CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College baseball team posted its second come-from-behind win of the season as Wesley Sides sent a two-run home run over the left field wall to capture the 9-7, walk-off outcome. MC improved to 2-1 on the season while Emmanuel University falls to 1-2 in 2024.
 
The home run was the only hit of the game for the Southaven, Miss., native, and is his second of the opening-season series. The two RBI are among four driven in by the junior in the game and gives him a Gulf South Conference-leading seven on the season.
 
Luis Alcantara led the team in hits with two – the only multiple-hit performance of the contest for the Blue and Gold – while Caleb Reese and Cole Drake joined Sides with multi-RBI efforts as they drove in two each.
 
EU picked up where it left off in the second game of the series as it tallied three runs in the first trip to the plate, but the Choctaws responded with a run in the third and then two more off the bat of Drake, who popped a two-run home run to center to knot the game at 3-all.
 
The score remained deadlocked until the top of the fifth when Thomas Collins connected on a solo home run to right field. The Lions held the 4-3 advantage until it expanded the deficit with a three-run, seventh inning.
 
MC battled back in the home half of the seventh. Korey Cooper and Reese each delivered RBI hits to pull the Blue and Gold to within two runs. The Choctaw tied the game, one batter later, as Sides grounded a ball into the Frierson Field turf and rumbled down the first base line and forced an errant throw, high of the first baseman's reach, which allowed Reese and JT Vance to score and force a 7-all stalemate.
 
Both teams recorded a hit in the eighth, but failed to plate a run. The Lions were retired in order in the top of the ninth and Cooper led off the top of the final from with a six-pitch walk to set up the drama, two batters later, to conclude the contest.
 
Kyle Collet (1-0) recorded the win on the mound as he tossed the final 2.1 innings in relief. He limited the Lions to one baserunner during the span and struck out three during his second appearance of the series.
 
Clifford Brown (0-2) took his second loss of the season. Brown allowed two runs – both earned – on two hits along with a walk and two strikeouts during two frames.
 
The fourth and final game of the series is rescheduled for Monday, Feb. 5. The originally scheduled date of Sunday, Feb. 4 was postponed due to the threat of incoming rain. First pitch on Monday is slated for Noon.
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