EMCC’s Berry, Medlin take All-MACCC baseball honors

As one of the most valu­able two-way players in the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference this season, East Mississippi Commu­nity College’s Blayze Berry has been selected first-team pitcher and second-team utility player on the 2022 All-MACCC Baseball Team. The honors were an­nounced Monday by the MACCC office after being voted on by the confer­ence’s head baseball coaches.

EMCC freshman out­fielder Ethan Medlin also received second-team honors for head coach Brett Kimbrel’s 28-19 EMCC squad that finished third in the MACCC regu­lar-season standings with a 20-8 conference mark and advanced to the NJCAA Region 23 Baseball Tourna­ment for the first team since the 2015 season.

Berry, a UAB signee, led EMCC’s pitching staff in wins (7), strikeouts (60), saves (3), complete games (7) and innings pitched (68.2). In addition to his team-best 7-1 record this season, Berry also posted a 2.75 earned run average and only walked 11 batters in 68 2/3 innings of work. In addition, opponents only hit .210 against the sophomore right-hander.

At the plate this past year as EMCC’s starting shortstop when not pitch­ing, Berry batted .333 with a team-high 57 hits, includ­ing seven home runs, while ranking second on the team in runs batted in (37), runs scored (41), doubles (7), extra-base hits (15), total bases (87), and stolen bases (11).

A product of Columbus’ Heritage Academy, Berry previously received honor­able mention all-confer­ence recognition as a freshman second base­man/pitcher a year ago for EMCC. Berry led the 2021 Lions with his .460 on-base percentage and ranked second behind current ULM junior Austin Beech by hitting .324 on the year. Along with his team-high seven doubles and club-most 25 walks, Berry hit four home runs with 24 RBIs and 22 runs scored.

As a freshman pitcher for the Lions, Berry made nine appearances on the mound with 31 strikeouts and only eight walks in 22 innings of work. With a win and a save a season ago, he made his collegiate debut by earning MACCC Pitcher of the Week hon­ors after helping lead the 2021 Lions to season-opening wins over Itawamba and Northeast Mississippi.

During his prep playing days, Berry collected Mid­south Association of Inde­pendent Schools Class AAA Player of the Year honors as a junior after helping lead the Heritage Patriots to the 2019 MAIS Class AAA state champi­onship. Prior to the pan­demic-shortened 2020 season, Berry was a Clar­ion Ledger Dandy Dozen preseason selection and was rated among the top 10 of Prep Baseball Re­port’s Mississippi 2020 state rankings.

Medlin, out of Lake Charles, La., led this year’s EMCC club with his .495 on-base percentage and ranked second on the team behind Mississippi College signee Wesley Sides in batting average (.336) as the Lions’ leadoff hitter. Along with getting hit by a pitch a team-most 20 times and ranking sec­ond on the club with 26 walks and 41 runs scored on the year, Medlin totaled five homers, six doubles, 26 RBIs and eight stolen bases.

At the prep level, Medlin was tabbed All-District 3-5A Honorable Mention in helping lead the 39-2 Barbe High School Bucca­neers to the 2021 LHSAA Class 5A state champi­onship and the No. 1 spot in the final MaxPreps Top 25 High School Baseball Rankings.

Both the 15-member first and second teams of this year’s All-MACCC Baseball Team were comprised of four infielders, four out­fielders, four pitchers, one catcher and two utility players.

In addition, individual conference awards went to Pearl River’s Mike Avalon for MACCC Coach of the Year as well as to North­west Mississippi’s Ryan Lee for MACCC Player of the Year and Northeast Missis­sippi’s Colby Holcombe for MACCC Pitcher of the Year.