Stillman College and Tuskegee University Golden Tigers battled Friday, with the Stillman Tigers taking both ends of a doubleheader 14-13 and 7-4.
Game One:
Tuskegee got on the board first, with two doubles in the first inning off the bats of Kyle Douglas, who doubled to right center, and Rhyan Hayes who also doubled to right field for a 3-0 lead. A fourth run came in on a single by Evan Jones for a 4-0 advantage, but Stillman battled back. In the bottom of the inning the Tigers would get a run cutting the deficit to 4-1, and after loading the bases, Bryant Rhooms’ grand slam to right field put Stillman up 5-4.
Tuskegee put up another run in the second inning to tie the game at 5-5. Stillman then took the lead with a four-run bottom of second inning for a 9-5 advantage, but the Golden Tigers fought back to knot up the game at 9-9 with four runs in the top of the third inning. The big hit in the inning was a Alex Glass single to left field that plated two runs.
Stillman put two across in the fourth to take a three-run lead 12-9. In the top of the sixth inning, Tuskegee would jump right back on top plating four runs and regaining the lead. Harrison Barnes singled up the middle, drove home two-runs for a 13-12 led.
Stillman scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth-inning aided by three Tuskegee fielding errors to put it away and seal a 14-13 come from behind win. Tuskegee tried to mount a comeback. With two outs, Rhyan Hayes was hit by a pitch, Cody Willis singled to left field, Hayes advanced to second. With the tying run in scoring position, Mark Hatch’s infield popup ended the game.
For the Tigers, Kobe Lewis was 2-for-3 with a run batted in, Bryant went 3-for-4 with 3 hits including a homerun and 5 runs batted in. Griff Minor had a hit. On the mound, Raymon Vaughn in 3.1 innings on the hill allowed 3 hits, 4 runs while striking out 5 batters. Cody Clark got the save in relief.
Tuskegee’s Kyle Douglas went 2-for-4 with a run batted in, and Evan Jones went 2-for-4. Four player, Julin Grier, Rhyan Hayes, Harrison Barnes, and Alex Glass recorded 2 runs batted it each. The loss was pinned on Cody Willis (0-1) in his first decision as a Golden Tiger.
Game Two:
Stillman jumped out to an early 3-0 lead thanks to run scoring doubles by Sieas Elliott and Bryant Rhooms in the first inning. Tuskegee plated a run in the second to cut the lead to 3-1. A fourth run crossed the plate for Stillman when Raymon Vaughn led-off the inning with a walk, stole second base, moved to third on a Julian Grier single and stole home to go up 4-1.
Stillman scored add-on runs in the third, fourth, and fifth innings to give the Tigers a 7-4 doubleheader sweep over Tuskegee.
For the Stillman Tigers (4-0), Rhooms was 1-for-2 with 3 runs batted in. In both games he drove in eight runs for the day. Mason Collins recorded the win. Tuskegee falls to 1-3.