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Savannah State University Athletics

1
9
Winner Florida Memorial FMU21 15-23
3
Savannah State SSUBB 13-6
Winner
Florida Memorial FMU21
15-23
9
Final
3
Savannah State SSUBB
13-6
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Florida Memorial FMU21 0 8 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 9 11 2
Savannah State SSUBB 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 3 3 2

W: Dawrin Ruiz (1-6) L: Harkey, Christian (4-2)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Tigers Fall To Florida Memorial To Open Black College World Series

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Two early errors and some stellar pitching cost Savannah State baseball their opening salvo of the inaugural Black College World Series on Tuesday evening.
 
The No. 2 Tigers fell to No. 5 Florida Memorial 3-9 at Riverwalk Stadium. Savannah State will continue in the double elimination tournament on Thursday. They are set to play at 2 p.m. against the winner of an Edward Waters and Rust College game at 11 a.m. (All times Central Standard).
 
The Lions, an NAIA school out of Miami Gardens, Fla., outhit Savannah State 11-3 in the contest. Pitcher Dawrin Ruiz had an incredible outing for the visitors, earning his first win of the season behind a complete game on the mound. Ruiz allowed two earned runs on three hits with nine strikeouts and three walks against 35 batters.
 
Christian Harkey, in his sixth start for Savannah State and seventh pitching appearance this season, came out strong in the opening inning, forcing three up, three down. In the bottom of the frame, with some momentum, Max Tracey singled to score Joseph Smith, pushing the Tigers ahead 1-0 early on.
 
The second inning, however, would prove to be game-changing. Yunior Sanchez singled to open the inning for the Lions. Later, he reached third on a sacrifice bunt, and then scored on a passed ball to tie the game.
 
The momentum shifted with the run. Florida Memorial took advantage of two costly SSU errors from Harkey and Phillip Woullard and racked up five hits, scoring eight runs for a monster lead they would not relinquish.
 
Savannah State settled down through the middle innings and so did Harkey. The senior registered three straight strikeouts in the third and forced three flyouts in the fourth, quieting the offensive effort from FMU. But Savannah State struggled offensively too, going hitless from the second to the fourth innings.
 
In the fifth, Smith broke the spell, singling up the middle. Dwayne Franklin later scored him on a sacrifice fly to cut Florida Memorial's lead to 8-2.  Luis Rivera singled in the bottom of the frame to reach. And Sanchez scored him on a double down the left field line, ending Harkey's night on the mound.
 
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Enrico Peele entered for Harkey in the sixth. Harkey pitched 5.1 innings for the Tigers. Harkey earned only his second loss of the season, allowing one earned run on 11 hits with five strikeouts and one walk against 31 batters.
 
Peele pitched 1.2 innings in relief for Savannah State, racking up three strikeouts and holding the Lions hitless. Manny Carucci entered in the eighth inning for Peele for a single inning, and forced three flyouts. Rahmir Vaughn closed out the game for the Tigers, keeping Florida Memorial out of reach of any more runs, forcing three flyouts after a walk.
 
Looking to spark a late rally, Franklin led off the eighth for Savannah State with a hit. Later, Wright grounded out, scoring Franklin to give the Tigers their final run of the night, as Tracy struck out to end the inning. A single runner reach in the ninth inning for Florida Memorial, but otherwise the final inning was routine baseball.
 
The Tigers struggled to hit Ruiz all night. Smith, Franklin and Tracey were the only ones to register hits in the loss. Sanchez led the Lions, going 4-for-4 at the plate with two RBI.

Originally, the World Series was designed with two divisional brackets split between NCAA Division II and NAIA. Savannah State was seeded at No. 1 in the D-II division. Lane College and Kentucky State pulled out of the World Series, so the divisions were dissolved and a new bracket was formed with no divisions.

The four-day tournament is double elimination with a championship game on Saturday, May 1. When the new bracket was formed, the Tigers were seeded No. 2 overall based on their regular-season record behind Xavier University.
 
 
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