MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Albany State (now 36-10 overall and the No. 1 seed in the Division II bracket) edged Edward Waters (24-23 and No. 4 seed in DII play) 3-2 in Game 1 of the Black College Baseball World Series presented by Tyson Foods at Riverwalk Park – home of the Class AA Montgomery Biscuits – Wednesday morning.
The four-day tournament consists of round-robin competition among NCAA Division II and NAIA teams in separate brackets for three days and a championship contest between bracket winners Saturday at 5 p.m. (CDT). The title game will be preceded by a special Black College Baseball Home Run Derby at 2 p.m. (CDT).
Edward Waters, the BCBWSPBTF defending champion after downing Kentucky State 3-2 in the 2022 trophy contest, dropped Wednesday’s opener by the same margin when ASU scratched out a run in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The pitchers’ duel featured a composite 18 hits and just one extra-base blow (a double by EWU’s Leonel Garcia) as the winning Golden Rams played errorless baseball. The two teams also tied a NCAA record held by many with no walks allowed among the 65 official at-bats, one hit batsman and a combined 14 strikeouts between the rivals.
Austin Roberts punched a two-out single in the bottom of the eighth inning for the winning tally for ASU – one of his team-leading two hits on the day. Relief man Luke Addison (3-1) gained the pitching victory while Edward Waters’ righthander Dwayne Maduro (4-4) absorbed the loss despite fanning nine over eight innings and mostly scattering 10 safeties.
Wednesday games (all times CDT): Gm. 1 – Albany State 3, Edward Waters (9:00 a.m.) (NCAA DII); Gm. 2 – Rust vs Florida Memorial (12:30 p.m.) (NAIA); Gm. 3 – Savannah State vs Bluefield State (4:00 p.m.) (NCAA DII); Gm. 4 – Wiley vs Paine (7:30 p.m.) (NAIA)
Thursday Schedule – To be determined.
Friday’s Schedule – To be determined.