After a full day of thrilling action, it was a pair of teams, who started the day fighting for their tournament lives in elimination games that advanced out of their respective brackets and will square-off for the Black College World Series Crown.  

In the first of two bracket finals, Kentucky State scored 10 runs in the first three innings to run past Miles, 12-7, and win the NCAA Division II bracket. Then, in the night cap, Edward Waters held off a furious, late-game comeback from Florida Memorial to win 9-8 and take the NAIA bracket.  

Kentucky State and Edward Waters will now play for the right to be crowned 2022 Tyson Foods Black College World Series Champions in a single, winner-take-all game that will be played at 5:00 p.m. CDT on Saturday, May 14th.  

A solo home run in the top of the 12th inning by Arden Thompson sent Kentucky State past top-seeded Albany State in the NCAA Division II loser’s bracket elimination game and sent the Thorobreds to the NCAA Division II finals.  

Kentucky State trailed 3-0 entering the eighth inning, but they finally broke through and plated a run to make it a 3-1 game. The Golden Rams countered and pushed their lead back to three with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Down three with just three outs left, the Thorobreds rallied to force the game into extra innings.  

Byron Famble opened the inning with a single, then moved to third as Daniel Moore hit a double. Kumar’s base hit drove in Famble, then two batters later, Saylor singled to bring in Moore and make it a 4-3 game. A fielding error loaded the bases and one batter later, a single through the left side brought Kumar home and tied the game at 4 where it remained until Thompson sent a pitch over the outfield fence and gave Kentucky State their first lead of the game. 

Michael Pedraza pitched the final four innings, giving up just the one run in the eighth inning, to earn the win. He retired the Golden Rams in order in the bottom of the 12th inning to close out the Thorobred victory.  

Edward Waters scored runs in each of the first five innings of the NAIA loser’s bracket elimination game to take down Rust and move on to the NAIA bracket finals.  

The Tigers scored one run in the first inning, then after Rust scored three times in the top of the second inning to take the lead, Edward Waters countered with a pair of runs of their own to knot the game at 3-3 early. Despite chances for Rust to break the tie, it was Edward Waters that would push the runner across home plate with another pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning. The Tigers scored again in the fourth inning, making it 6-3, but it was 6-4 after the Bearcats put together a two-out rally to cut into the deficit.  

A pair of throwing errors helped Edward Waters push their lead back to three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, but Rust would again cut into it with a run in the top of the seventh, bringing the score to 7-5. The last run of the game was scored on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning as Rust was retired in order in the top of the ninth by closer Grimaldi, sealing the 8-5 Edward Waters victory.  

Kentucky State used an eight-run second inning and scored 10 runs in the first three innings to defeat Miles 12-7 and win the NCAA Division II bracket of the 2022 Tyson Foods Black College World Series.  

Kentucky State got to Miles starting pitcher Matthew McDonald early, forcing him out of the game after just 1.2 innings pitched and with six runs charged to his name. They scored a single run in the first inning, and it looked like they’d be shutout from scoring in the second inning, but the Thorobreds started piecing together quality at-bats after a double-play recorded the first two outs of the inning. Kentucky State had 10 straight batters reach base with a total of six singles, a three-run double, and a trio of walks, the last of which brought in one of the eight runs scored in the top of the second inning. The Thorobreds added a run in the third inning to take a commanding 10-0 lead.  

Miles would fight back and give themselves a shot at an unlikely comeback. The Golden Bears scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the third inning and then scored singular runs in the sixth and seventh innings to make it a 10-3 game. Kentucky State added an insurance run in the top of the eighth, which was matched and then surpassed by a four-run inning by Miles that cut their deficit in half, trailing 11-7 with one at-bat left. The Thorobreds would tack on one more run in the ninth inning before closing out the 12-7 victory in the bottom half of the inning.  

Edward Waters jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the game’s first two innings and held on for a dramatic 9-8 victory over top-seeded Florida Memorial to win the NAIA bracket of the 2022 Tyson Foods Black College World Series.  

The Tigers scored once in the first inning and then got three more runs from a Nobles three-run shot over the left field fence to take an early 4-0 lead. Florida Memorial cut it to 4-3 in the bottom half of the second inning, but Edward Waters had an answer, scoring four runs in the top of the third to quickly make it an 8-3 game.  

Florida Memorial clawed back two of those runs in the bottom of the third, but then the bats went relatively quiet for the next few innings. That was until Florida Memorial chipped away further, scoring once in the sixth inning and once in the seventh inning to cut their deficit from four to two, trailing just 8-6 with two innings to play.  

Edward Waters, after a two-out single by Garcia, took advantage of a walk and two wild pitches to score a late insurance run. That run turned out to be crucial for the Edward Waters victory as Florida Memorial would not go away quietly. The Lions had trimmed the Tigers’ lead to two before the first out was recorded, and after two runner-advancing fly outs, the latter being a sacrifice fly, Florida Memorial trailed by just a single run. The Lions brought the winning run to the plate, but the final hitter struck-out swinging and Edward Waters came out victorious.