TALLADEGA, Ala. - The Talladega College baseball team wrapped up a rather unique four game series with the Point University Skyhawks in Talladega on Saturday afternoon. The teams played the first two games of the set on Tuesday, and after they split those contests, they met back up on the TC campus on Saturday to complete the set.

Point (5-4-1) jumped out to a 7-0 lead on their way to an 8-1 win in game 1, and they looked like they would complete th sweep of the day until a late rally from Talladega (6-3-1) knotted things up and led to a 6-6 tie and the game was eventually declared a tie due to darkness.

Three of the first four Skyhawk hitters in the second inning reached base, setting up a pair of RBI hits including a double with only one away as Point took a 3-0 lead. The Tornadoes got out of the inning with a 6-4-3 twin killing, but in the fourth frame, a 2-out rally plated four more runs to give Point a 7-0 lead. Talladega got on the board with a sacrifice fly from Jesuette Dominguez in the sixth, but Point got the run back in the top of the seventh and the Skyhawks took the win 8-1.

Cameron Seiwert (1-1) earned the win for Point, and Ramses Ortega (1-1) was hit with the loss for Talladega.

Singles from Wander Arias, Isaac Guzman, and Jahir Cruz were the only hits of the afternoon for Talladega, and Arias scored the Tornadoes' only run.

In game two, again it was Point who jumped on top early. The Skyhawks plated five runs on five hits including three doubles in the third inning to break a scoreless tie.

This time, however, Talladega answered immediately. Singles by Guzman and Darlin Fernandez were followed by Arias being hit by a pitch and that loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the third for Armando Jackson. Jackson ripped a two-RBI single that scored Guzman and Fernandez, and Miguel Oropeza followed him with an RBI base hit toat trimmed the deficit to 5-3.

Point added an insurance run in the top of the fifth, but Jackson kept the momentum from shifting in the bottom half of the frame. With one out and Fernandez on first, Jackson launched a 2-run homer to left that pulled the Tornadoes within one. Oropeza again followed with a single, and this time he stole second and went to third on an error to put the tying run on third with only one away. Dominguez bounced out to second as the next hitter, but the play brought Oropeza in with the tying run and the game headed to the sixth all square, 6-6.

Each team had chances to take the lead in the sixth. Point threatened in the top of the sixth, but a unique 7-5-2 double play ended their threat. In the bottom of the inning, the Tornadoes got a leadoff walk from Jahir Cruz, and he advanced to second on a wild pitch before he stole third with nobody out. Point, though, tip-toed out of trouble as the go-ahead run was stranded at third and the game remained tied. Again in the eighth, both teams threatened, but both were turned away, and the umpires called the game due to darkness, resulting in a 6-6 tie.

The tie was the first for Talladega baseball since a 0-0 result at Tuskegee on February 4, 2009, and it was the first for Point since at least 2012.

Jackson's homer was the only extra-base hit for the Tornadoes in the contest, and he was 2-for-4 with a run and four RBIs. Fernandez and Oropeza each also had two hits, Fernandez scored two runs, and Oropeza crossed the plate once. Jack Wood, Jose Franco, Samuel Guadamuz, and Michael Gonzalez combined to allow six runs - three of them earned - on 12 hits, four walks, and eight strikeouts in eight innings of work for the Tornadoes.

Talladega will hit the road for the first time in 2023 on Tuesday afternoon when they head to Birmingham to take on the Miles College Golden Bears (3-5) at historic Rickwood Field. The game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.