The Talladega College baseball team swept a doubleheader against Southern University at New Orleans in New Orleans Saturday. The Tornadoes took game one 8-1 and game two 29-1.

The Tornadoes improved to 28-14 on the season and 20-3 in HBCUAC play, while the Knights fell to 20-14 overall and 16-6 in the conference. The two squads finish their three-game series on Sunday at 2 p.m. in New Orleans.

Game 1: Talladega 8, Southern 1-7 Innings

The Tornadoes began the scoring in the top of the second inning. An Armando Jackson RBI single to center field scored Isaac Guzman, the first of Jackson's four RBI in game one. Talladega tacked on one more courtesy of a passed ball and made it 3-0 on another RBI single to center by Jonathan Williams.

The Tornadoes scored two more in the third. Guzman scored Jahir Cruz on a sacrifice fly and Jederick Velazquez singled home Darlin Fernandez to make it 5-0 Talladega through two and a half innings.

Southern picked up its only run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning on a solo homerun. That was the only tally Tornadoes' starter Emilio Duque allowed, and just one of two hits. Jackson sent one over the wall for Talladega in the seventh inning, a three-run shot that extended the Tornadoes' lead to 8-1. It was Jackson's eighth homerun of the year, the second best mark on the team behind Miguel Oropeza. 

Duque finished off the seven-inning complete game for Talladega, allowing just one run, two hits, walking two and striking out six on his way to his seventh victory of the season.

Game 2: Talladega 29, Southern 1-7 Innings

At the start of game two, the Tornadoes picked up right where they left off in game one and then some. Talladega put up 14 runs in the first inning. Four homeruns highlighted the offensive barrage, two of which came from Fernadez-a three-run shot and a grand slam. Those were Fernandez's fourth and fifth homers of the season and gave him seven RBI in the first inning. Oropeza had one of the remaining two first inning jacks, his team-leading 11th of the year. The final long ball of the frame belonged to Jackson, his second of the day and ninth of the season, which made it 14-0 Tornadoes.

Talladega did not stop there. After two touchdowns in the first inning, the Tornadoes added one more in the second. Fernandez hit his third homerun of the game, a three run shot to give the senior a career high 10 RBI. Fernandez came into the contest with three homeruns and and 26 RBI on the season. He ballooned those totals to six and 36 respectively after two innings. Oropeza also added to his account with an RBI triple.

Southern got its only run in the bottom of the third after Talladega did not score in the top half to make it 21-1, but the Tornadoes were not done. They added four more runs in the fourth, highlighted by a Victor Rivera two-RBI double. Rivera knocked in one more on a ground out in the fifth to give Talladega a 26-1 lead.

Three more crossed for the Tornadoes in the sixth inning to tie the program record for most runs scored in a game, equaling Talladega's total from March 1, 2012, when the Tornadoes beat Rust College 29-0. The Tornadoes' 28-run margin of victory was the second largest in program history.

Fernandez led the way offensively for Talladega, going 4-for-6 with three homeruns and 10 RBI. Rivera followed at 3-for-4 with five RBI, and Oropeza also went 3-for-4 while walking twice and driving in three. The Tornadoes got another strong start on the mound, this time courtesy of Samuel Guadamuz, who went six innings, gave up one run and three hits, struck out 10 and walked none. Guadamuz earned his eighth win of the year.