LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – The No. 4 Talladega College baseball team fell 6-4 to host and No. 1 Georgia Gwinnett College in the winner’s bracket of the Lawrenceville Regional this afternoon. With the loss, the Tornadoes move to the loser’s bracket and will play tomorrow at 11 a.m. against either No. 5 Saint Xavier or No. 3 Houston-Victoria.
Talladega is now 43-13 on the season, while the Grizzlies are 50-4.
The Grizzlies got on the board in the bottom of the third when an error by the Talladega left fielder allowed a run to score to make it 1-0.
In the top of the fourth, the Tornadoes tied the game at one, and it started when Isaac Guzman singled up the middle and later tagged up on a deep flyout to center to move to second. He later scored off Armando Jackson’s RBI single to right center.
Georgia Gwinnett retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth when it plated a pair of runs to go up 3-1.
Talladega cut the lead to one when Miguel Oropeza registered his second home run of the regional with a shot to left to make it 3-2.
The Grizzlies in their half inning responded when they pushed two runs across on no hits and an error to go up 5-2.
Talladega, in the top of the sixth, used a pair of walks from Oropeza and Diego Duque to start things off. A sacrifice bunt from Guzman moved both runners into scoring position, and then a ground out to second by Darlin Fernandez allowed Oropeza to score to make it a 5-3 before the inning ended.
GGC got the run back in its half of the inning off a sacrifice fly to make it 6-3.
Headed to the bottom of the ninth and down to its final chance, Talladega’s Jeriel Lamboy reached first on a wild pitch after striking out. He later moved to second when Williams walked. Joshua Catala Santos loaded the bases after drawing a walk of his own. With no outs, Victor Rivera plated Lamboy off a sacrifice fly to left to make it 6-4. With the team’s hottest hitter, Oropeza, coming up for his fourth time in the contest, he flew out to center, but an error by the Grizzlies’ shortstop allowed both runners to move up 90 feet before the game ended on a strikeout.
Talladega starter Samuel Guadamuz took the loss to fall to 11-2. He allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits over four and two-thirds of an inning, while striking out three.
Oropeza, Guzman, Jackson, and Williams all tallied two hits apiece. Oropeza scored a pair of runs and hit the team’s only extra-base hit of the contest.
Both Jackson and Oropeza tallied an RBI.
Source: Talladega College Athletic Department