MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Florida Memorial downed Rust College to advance to the championship game of the Saturday against Albany State in the Black College Baseball World Series presented by Tyson Foods.
In the process, FMU won its first NAIA bracket trophy for the two-bracket tourney and ran its record in the double-elimination meet this week to 3-0 and 5-1 over the last two holdings of the tourney. Memorial was edged by eventual champ Edwards Waters 9-8 in the semifinals in 2022.
Jalen Young launched his second home run in three days for his fifth hit of the evening and first-third RBI to evoke the 10-run mercy rule against a gritty Bobcats crew.
FMU Lions crush Rust 13-3 to win NAIA Division at Black College World Series #fmu #lions #blackcollegeworldseries #hbcuworldseries #floridamemorial #naia #baseball #hbcubaseball #Alabama 🦁⚾️https://t.co/SXUySbYngm pic.twitter.com/lJ2mCHOjwr
— FMU Lions Athletics (@GoFmuLions) May 13, 2023
Rust’s hitting leader was leadoff man Shemaar Stapleton with a single in three trips and an RBI. He helped RC avoid a 10-0 loss in the top of the seventh when the losing nine scored three runs.
The winning pitcher Friday night was Max Chamin (6-3), with his team-most sixth victory, and Brytan Sanpson (4-5) absorbed the setback for Rust after being chased after three complete innings.
Albany State uses big first inning to oust Edward Waters
Albany State scored seven runs in the first inning and coasted to an 8-3 victory over Edward Waters in Game 11 to advance to Saturday’s title tussle in the Black College Baseball World Series.
ASU, which is now 3-0 in the tourney and has the most victories among any Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference squad.
🐏 ⚾️ move into the Black College World Series Championship Final tomorrow after securing the 8-3 victory over Edward Waters University today. The 🐏 were victors in the DII championship game & will face the winner of the NAIA championship game tomorrow at 5pm in Montgomery, AL pic.twitter.com/RkWrOGdk9I
— ASURamsBaseball (@ASURamsBaseball) May 13, 2023
Edward Waters, the defending champion in the popular HBCU series, could not get on track and began running low on pitching in its fourth game of the Black College World Series.
The Golden Rams hammered 10 more singles after the first frame and held off a belated uprising to capture the NCAA Division II bracket of the tourney.
Landon Kiefer (9-2) was the winning pitcher for the Golden Rams while working seven innings and scattering five hits with six strikeouts. Sebastian Velez (3-4) was tagged with the loss.
Leading the 17-hit onslaught for ASU was Sydney, Australia, product Zane Ross with his first 5-for-5 showing of the series. EWU standout Leonel Garcia had a 2-for-3 performance at the dish with one RBI in his team’s setback.
Courtesy: Black College Nines
