LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The No. 1 seed Talladega College baseball team opened up the HBCUAC Baseball Championship with a 9-0 victory over No. 8 Wilberforce University this afternoon. The Tornadoes are now 39-12, while Wilberforce drops to 15-31.
With the win, Talladega advances to the winner's part of the bracket tomorrow and faces Dillard University (La.). The time tomorrow is TBD due to weather altering Thursday's schedule of games.
Headed to the bottom of the fifth up 3-0, Talladega broke the game open as it plated five runs on a pair of hits. It started when
Joshua Catala Santos singled to second and later moved to third off
Victor Rivera's single through the right side. He later scored off
Miguel Oropeza's sacrifice fly to center to make it 4-0. Rivera moved up 180 feet after stealing second, and a passed ball allowed him to take third.
Jahir Cruz kept things going when he walked to put runners on the corners. Both Cruz and Rivera executed a double steal, allowing Rivera to score to push the lead to 5-0. Cruz later took third off a throwing error by the pitcher.
Following the error,
Isaac Guzman walked and then stole second to put runners on second and third with one out. A walk to
Armando Jackson loaded the bases for Talladega to force Wilberforce to go to the bullpen. Back-to-back-to-back walks from
Jeriel Lamboy,
Jonathan Williams, and Catala pushed three runs across to make it 8-0 before the inning ended.
Talladega added a run in the seventh to increase the lead to 9-0.
The Tornadoes pitchers combined for the team's ninth shutout of the season, while the team picked up its 11
th straight win.
Starter
Nomar Caraballo scattered five hits over six innings and fanned two in the process to pick up the win (2-1). Reliever
Dewinel Vazquez went three innings, striking out four and giving up a hit to earn the save (1).
The offense tallied 13 walks, 14 stolen bases, and eight hits. All eight hits were singles.
Rivera and Oropeza combined to go 4-for-8 with a run scored and an RBI. Both Catala and
Darlin Fernandez each finished with a hit and a pair of runs scored.
Cruz and Williams paced the team in stolen bases with three each.
