TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – In a doubleheader battle between the top two teams in the HBCU Athletic Conference East Division, the Stillman College baseball team forced a split in the matchup with the Talladega College Tornadoes after Dega won the first game 19-2, but the Tigers rallied to win the second contest 8-6.
Davion Wilkins hit a single to third base for an RBI to bring in
Thedrick Harris to open the second contest. Mehka Hicks was hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded to bring in a run as
Troy Davis trotted home.
Robert Gage used his at-bat to cap the scoring as he drew a bases-loaded walk to allow
Elijah Anderson to come home and put Stillman up 3-0.
Michael Moses added to the lead in the second when he scored on a wild pitch to push the lead to 4-0.
Talladega did not go quietly and used a two-RBI double in the third by Miguel Oropeza and a grand slam in the fifth from Isaac Guzman to take a 6-4 advantage.
However, that was all the Tigers allowed with the comeback starting in the bottom of the fifth where Hicks hit an RBI single up the middle to drive in Anderson.
Then in the sixth, Wilkins notched a sacrifice fly to center field as Moses tagged from third to tie the contest 6-6. The Tigers used some heads-up base running to take the lead as Harris scored on a wild pitch.
Thomas Stovall finished the rally with a bases-loaded walk to bring in
Javian Rives to push the score to the final 8-6 tally.
Wilkins and Hicks both finished with two RBIs and a steal.
Daniel Salter smashed a double for an extra-base hit, and Anderson notched a steal.
The Tigers' pitching limited the powerful Talladega bats to eight hits.
John Roland Jr. pitched five innings in the start with four strikeouts. Caleb Scheiner (2-1) picked up the win in relief as he sat down all three batters faced.
Raymon Vaughn (2) shut the door in the seventh with a strikeout to his credit.
Game one did not go the way of Stillman as the powerful Tornadoes' offense poured on 17 runs in the first four innings, including an 11-spot in the fourth.
Stillman avoided the shutout and a no-hitter in the fifth when
Gavin Rehorn hit a single up the middle to bring in Hicks.
Dega added two more runs in the sixth before
Troy Davis homered in the bottom of the seventh to bring the score to the 19-2 final.
Griff Minor (4-3) took the loss after facing 24 batters in three innings.
Nathan Flemister made an appearance and faced three batters.
Jaxon Pearson pitched three innings with a strikeout and
Ashton King notched a strikeout in an inning of work.
Due to the threat of inclement weather tomorrow, the Tigers and Tornadoes will finish the HBCUAC series on April 9 at noon. Instead, next up for Stillman College is a weekend series on April 5-6 against Rust College starting next Saturday at noon.
