HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Talladega College baseball dropped a close one to William Carey University 6-5 this afternoon on the road. The Tornadoes are now 1-4 on the season while the Crusaders moved to 3-2 on the year.

With two down in the top of the first, Talladega's Miguel Oropeza drew a walk to keep the inning alive and later moved to second when Jose Santiago reached first on an error by the Crusaders' second baseman.  Oropeza then took advantage of a wild pitch to move up to third. Issac Guzman's walk later loaded the bases for Talladega. Oropeza and Santiago later both scored off of Armando Jackson's single through the right side to put the Tornadoes on the board first with a 2-0 lead. Guzman moved to third on the play. Jaylen Mateo took second off a passed ball after coming in as a pinch runner for Jackson. The Talladega threat came to an end off of a strikeout for the final out of the frame.

William Carey got one of the two runs back in the bottom half of the first as it used three singles to plate its first run and cut the lead to, 2-1.

After both teams posted scoreless second and third innings, the Tornadoes added a run in the top of the fourth and two more in the top of the fifth to take a 5-1 lead.

The Crusaders plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it 5-3 before pushing three more runs across on no hits in the bottom of the bottom of the eighth to take its first lead of the game.
Talladega threatened in the top of the ninth when Victor Rivera walked with two outs before a fly out to center ended the game.

Oropeza finished the day going 1-for-4 with a double, a walk, two RBIs, and a run scored while teammate Jackson tallied two RBIs and a pair of hits (2-for-4).

Starting pitcher Jose Franco threw five innings while scattering five hits and allowing one run. He fanned four in the process for Talladega.

Reliever Juan De Dios took the loss (0-1) after going 1.1 innings of work and allowing three (two earned).

Talladega is back in action tomorrow when it faces Georgia Gwinnett College at noon and then closes the weekend out at 6 p.m. against host William Carey.