Photo Credits: Sharon Dowdell
“We were focused today,” Reginald Hollins, the first year coach at Tuskegee University said following his team’s sweep of a double-hitter over long time rival Morehouse College on Sunday. Hollins was more upbeat than he was on Saturday after his team dropped a hard fought game 3-2 on a throwing error in the eighth inning of that game.
On Saturday, his team committed four errors and handed Morehouse their first SIAC win of the season. Before Sunday’s game Hollins said he came into this weekend series wanting to win the series. His troops knew that they had to win both games of the double-hitter. They were focused like a laser.
In the first game of the double-hitter, Tuskegee wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. They put together three walks, a batter hit by pitch and a wild pitch to score Jalen Luther. They added two runs in the second inning on a two run homer by Luther. Morehouse scored two runs in the bottom of the second. In the fourth inning, Tuskegee second baseman Dominic Johnson hit a solo homer. Morehouse scored a run in the bottom of the inning to keep the game close.
In the top of the fifth, Javan Wakefield, Tuskegee’s freshman catcher hit a two run homer which was estimated to have traveled 400 plus feet over the fence and the pine trees in left centerfield. Douglas Brown, Tuskegee’s freshman shortstop hit a solo homer. Wakefield closed out the scoring in the seventh inning by blasting another solo home run.
Photo Credits: Sharon Dowdell
Jordyn Thomas, a junior from Norcross, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, pitched 5 1/3 strong innings. He left the game ahead 5-3, leaving a runner on third. Hollins went to his freshman relief pitcher from Decatur, Georgia, Darien Brown. Brown retired the first batter he faced 5-3 and induced the second batter to pop out to the second baseman. Senior pitcher Ricky Green from Tampa, Florida stuck out the side in the seventh to save the win for Thomas. Brown picked up his second hold on the season in Tuskegee’s 8-3 win over Morehouse.
The second game saw Tuskegee put 18 runs on the board and pound out 16 hits. Douglas Brown led the assault going 3 for 3. Matthew Reed went 2 for 4 and Gemini Jackson went 3 for 5.
Joe Mauldin pitched a complete game gem, going the distance and striking out 15 batters,
Tuskegee improved its record to 13-11 and Morehouse dropped to 5-17. Next weekend Tuskegee goes on the road to play Kentucky State University.
Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist, the author of Paper puzzle and Justice in the Round, Easier to obtain Than to Maintain: The Globalization of Civil Rights by Charles Steele, Jr.; and the host of Beyond the Law with Harold Michael Harvey. He can be contacted at haroldmichaelharvey.com.