No. 8 ranked Tornadoes beats No. 2 Tigers in Black College Nines HBCU Baseball poll
NAIA/GCAC/Baseball
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Talladega silenced Edward Waters for the second time in this tournament as the Tornadoes claimed their second consecutive Gulf Coast Athletic Conference baseball tournament championship with a 4-0 victory this afternoon at Silsby Field on Talladega’s campus. The tournament was a tremendous reversal of fortune for both teams as The Tigers had claimed the season series four games to two.
Pitcher Matt Holland got the shutout win for the Tornadoes (3-0), going all nine innings and scattering eight hits. Talladega hurlers dominated their opponents throughout the tournament. They gave up just three earned runs in three contests, good for a 1.08 earned run average. Opposing batters hit a meager .185 against Tornado pitching.
The Talladega offense was spearheaded by the team’s 1-2-3 hitters. Designated hitter Hector Corona hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning for the Tornadoes, and the double play combo of Austin Drummonds and Jean Marmol combined for three hits, two RBI, and a pair of runs scored. Center fielder Michael Scofield had a single and a triple and scored a run.
Juan Bracamonte and Jesse Baker had two hits each in a losing effort for Edward Waters.
Talladega outscored its opponents 23-4 in the tournament, leading all teams with a .346 batting average. No other team was better than .300.