The Talladega College baseball team clinched the HBCU Athletic Conference regular season title with a doubleheader sweep Saturday over Rust College in Holly Springs, MS. The Tornadoes claimed game one 11-4 and game two 9-1, improving their record to 35-14 and 26-3 in the HBCUAC. Talladega extended its win streak to nine games. The Bearcats fell to 22-25 and 13-16 in league play.

The Tornadoes close out the regular season against the Bearcats Sunday at Noon in Mississippi. The Tornadoes will then contest the HBCUAC Baseball Championship, with the tournament running April 30-May 4.

Game 1: Talladega 11, Rust 4-7 Innings

The Bearcats got the better of the early innings in game one. After sending the Tornadoes down in order in the top of the first inning, Rust plated three in the bottom half on a run-scoring groundout and a two-RBI double.

Talladega got two men on with two out in the top of the second on a double by Darlin Fernandez and an Armando Jackson walk, but they were stranded. The Tornadoes went one-two-three for a second time in the third inning. Heading into the fourth, Rust held a 3-0 lead and Talladega had only managed one hit.

That quickly changed when the Tornadoes came to bat in the fourth. Miguel Oropeza led off the inning with a single, then Jahir Cruz walked. Isaac Guzman followed with a game-tying three-run homerun, his fifth of the season. A Jederick Velazquez sacrifice fly later in the inning put Talladega ahead 4-3, a lead it would not relinquish.

The Tornadoes sent nine men to the plate in the fourth, which meant Oropeza also led off the fifth. He deposited his 16th homerun of the season over the left field wall to make it 5-3. Talladega extended its advantage to 6-3 in the fifth courtesy of an RBI double by Jackson.

In the top of the sixth, the Tornadoes broke the game open. Oropeza knocked in his third run of the game with a single. Guzman made it four RBI with a sacrifice fly. Jackson upped his tally to three RBI with a two-run double.

Rust got one back in the seventh, but Talladega cruised to an 11-4 victory. Starter Emilio Duque earned his ninth win of the season with 5.2 innings of three-run ball, with only one of those runs being earned. Duque allowed six hits, struck out five and walked none.

Game 2: Talladega 9, Rust 1-7 Innings

The Tornadoes bats started game two relatively quietly as well. They were sent down in order in the first inning, but this time Talladega held Rust scoreless in the bottom of the first, despite Samuel Guadamuz surrendering a pair of singles.

The first two Tornadoes were retired to start the second, then Fernandez got Talladega's first hit of the game, a single to center field. Fernandez then advanced one base at a time on three passed balls, scoring the first run of the contest. Rust claimed an unearned run of its own in the bottom half of the second. A throwing error allowed the Bearcats' Denarrium Warren to reach second. He scored on a Jalik Demar single to tie the game at one.

Just as it did in game one, Talladega went one-two-three in the third, but followed it by taking the lead in the fourth. The first two Tornadoes were retired. Then, Guzman singled, Fernandez reached on an error, Jackson walked and Jeriel Lamboy slugged a grand slam, Talladega's third long ball of the day. It was Lamboy's first homerun of the season and the third of the sophomore's career. It gave the Tornadoes a 5-1 lead.

Talladega tacked on two more in the fifth on a Cruz sacrifice fly and a Guzman RBI groundout. Guzman made it three RBI on the game and seven on the day with a two-run single in the seventh inning, putting the Tornadoes ahead 9-1.

Guadamuz picked up his 10th win of the year, going five innings and allowing just one unearned run. The junior scattered seven hits, struck out eight and, like Duque, did not walk a batter.