King’s complete game seals sweep

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast showed off two ways to win Saturday in a sweep of Holmes. The Bulldogs pounded 17 hits to win the first game 13-7 and got a complete game from Blake King in the second for a 6-3 win at Ken “Curly” Farris Field.

“It was a little bit a tale of two sides today,” Gulf Coast coach Bob Keller said. “We got offense in game 1. The pitchers threw really well all day, and it was a great performance by Blake in Game 2.”

Gulf Coast (22-8, 8-2 MACCC) has won three straight and five of the last seven. Holmes is 9-17, 1-9.

Kaden Irving (Fr., Gautier/Gautier) was 4-for-4 with a double in the first game. Dom Jackson (Fr., Gulf Breeze, Fla./Gulf Breeze) had three hits, including his 10^th home run of the season. Charlie Olsen (So., Gulfport/Gulfport) and Charlie Keller (So., Mobile, Ala./Mobile Christian) also homered for the Bulldogs. Keilon Parnell (Fr., Pascagoula/Pascagoula) tripled.

Brandon Cain (So., Mobile, Ala./Baker) got the win with a five-inning start. Zach Hessler (Fr., Wellington, Fla./Wellington) threw 2.1 innings of one-run relief, and Tyler Gunter (So., D’Iberville/D’Iberville) and Brody Swindle (So., Fairhope, Ala./Bayside Academy) combined pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief to close it out.

King struck out five and allowed two earned runs for his first complete game of the year. He scattered four hits.

“Blake was really good today, very composed,” Keller said. “It was a rocky start with the errors in the first inning, then he settled in. he started getting the leadoff guy out a little more and used his complete mix of pitches.”

Cain had a two-run single in the second followed by Parnell’s sacrifice bunt to make it 4-1. Cain finished with two hits in Game 2.

After Holmes closed to 4-3, Marc Stephens (So., Orange Beach, Ala./Gulf Shores) extended his hit streak to 22 games with a two-out, two-run single with two strikes in the sixth.

Gulf Coast is on the road twice next week. The Bulldogs play at No. 10 Jones on Tuesday and at East Mississippi on Friday.

For more information on MGCCC’s 11 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.