Tigers Take Down Thorobreds To Win Championship, 3-2
MAY 14, 2022 | MONTGOMERY, AL
Living up to championship game expectations, Edward Waters defeated Kentucky State 3-2 in the winner-take all championship game at the 2022 Tyson Foods Black College World Series at Riverwalk Stadium.
The Tigers improve to 28-27 on the season while the Thorobreds conclude the season at 25-24.
Edward Waters held the lead throughout the game but held off Kentucky State with a late chance to tie or take the lead in the eighth. The Tigers turned a thrilling 6-4 double-play to get out of the inning. Then, in the ninth, Caden Hutchinson came in to save the game and registered three fly ball outs to win the game.
The Tigers jumped on top with a pair of runs in the second inning. Anthony Roman led off the stanza with a double. Two batters later, he moved to third on a groundout. Roman crossed home plate on a John Nobles single to center field. Nobles swiped second and scored on Keilin Washington’s three-big hat to right field.
The Thorobreds sliced the deficit to one in the third. Aram Kumar walked and moved to second when Jared Pierce reached on a base on balls. Kelton Saylor’s base hit loaded the bags. Collier Higgs lifted a pitch to left field, driving in Kumar on a sacrifice fly. Although KSU had two on with only one down, the squad was unable to push across another run in the inning.
The Tigers regained a two-run lead in the fifth. Washington walked and hustled to second on a sacrifice bunt from Dalton Pass. A single from Nelsido Nunez made the score 3-1.
With one down in the sixth, Byron Famble doubled to left field. He moved to third on a fly ball and scored on Kumar’s bunt single, pulling the home team within one at 3-2.
KSU had a chance to tie or take the lead in the eighth. The Thorobreds loaded the bases with one away. However, a double play ended the threat.
Hutchinson retired the side in order in the ninth, picking up the save. Austin James worked five innings to get the win. He struck out five. Frank Grimaldi and Cameron Chastain worked two frames and one inning, respectively.
At the plate, Washington tripled and drove in one. He also crossed home once. Nobles drove in one and scored. Nunez picked up the other RBI in the win while Roman was plated.
In the loss, five student-athletes picked up one hit apiece. Higgs and Kumar each drove in one. Kumar and Famble both scored.
Brady Bibbs struck out nine in six innings in the loss. Dashawn Hureskin worked the final three innings and had three strikeouts.
The Black College World Series is a postseason event to determine HBCU baseball national champion on the field, while emphasizing the significance of collegiate baseball’s unique regular season where every game counts.
Black College Championships, along with its selection committee will announce the field of eight-teams in all for the 2022 Black College Baseball Tournament. The field for the world series includes automatic bids via conference championships and at-large entrants and at-large invites. The tournament is a double-elimination two-bracket format.
Each of the teams in the two-brackets, the winners of those games play each other, while the losers play an elimination game.
Keilin Washington of EWU took home Most Outstanding Player honors with an 11-20 performance in the series, batting .550 with 4 stolen bases.
The tournament games pits NCAA DII bracket champion and the NAIA bracket champion as the final two teams left standing advance to a winner-take-all championship game to determine the national champion.
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