Florida HBCUs To Play For SWAC Baseball Championship
The 2023 SWAC Baseball Tournament Championship will be decided between two programs from the Sunshine State, as Florida A&M will take on Bethune-Cookman in Sunday's title game.
It was challenging for both teams as the Rattlers and the Wildcats had to fight their way from the losing bracket and win their Friday matchups against the top seeds in the tournament, Alabama State and Grambling State.
Friday afternoon set up two rematches for Saturday. Here's how they played out.
Florida A&M Wins Grudge Match Against Alabama State
Florida A&M's Janmikell Bastardo during the Rattlers' game against Alabama State.
Reily Rogers -SWAC
It was the third time the Hornets and Rattlers faced off in the SWAC Tournament, and Florida A&M gave Alabama State a taste of its own medicine with two runs in the 1st inning.
The runs came from Janmikell Bastardo, whose two-run homer was his third of the tournament.
Florida A&M added another run in the 4th inning off of a sacrifice fly from Jalen Niles, and Alabama State responded with two RBI singles to make the score 3-2.
But it didn't take long for the Rattlers to increase the lead as Jared Weber hit a home run over the left field fence. Then after recording the second out, Joseph Pierini hit a popup, but the Alabama State infielders let it drop, and he was safe.
That proved a costly mistake as Pierini later scored on an RBI single from Adam Haidermota. Niles added another RBI to his stat line with a single up the middle before the frame ended. After five innings, Florida A&M led 6-2.
The Rattlers added another run in the 6th inning to grow the lead to five runs, but the Hornets showed some life in the 7th inning.
With the bases loaded, Florida A&M's Tre Simmons gave up a walk, forcing home a run. Jack Hay followed it up with a sacrifice fly to make the score 7-4 after seven innings.
Unfortunately, that was the last time Alabama State would score, and the Rattlers added another run in the 9th inning to win the game 8-4 and advance to the championship game.
"To be the best, you have to beat the best," head coach Jamey Shouppe said. "Alabama State was the best on our side of the bracket. We still have work to do, but I'm happy for the guys. To make it to the championship after being in the loser's bracket is quite an effort."
Bethune-Cookman Mercy Rules Grambling State
Bethune-Cookman's Colton Olasin puts the ball in play against Grambling State.
Reily Rogers - SWAC
Grambling State scored two runs on two hits in the first inning, and the Tigers only amassed two more hits the rest of the game.
The Wildcats scored 14 consecutive runs over three innings - six in the 2nd inning, three in the 3rd inning, and five in the 4th inning.
The pitching and defense did not let up until the 7th inning, where a bases-loaded walk and an infield single allowed Grambling to score two runs to make the game interesting. But Bethune-Cookman eventually got the final out, winning the game 14-4.
Besides the 7th, everything went in the Wildcats' favor Saturday afternoon, and now Jonathan Hernandez's squad will face an in-state rival Sunday."
"It's the first time in a while that the Wildcats and Rattlers get together to decide a conference baseball championship," Hernandez said. "We have the utmost respect for coach Shouppe, but we're playing to win. Both teams are going to get after it, and it's going to be a quality baseball game tomorrow."
But the focus now turns to Florida A&M, competing for the first SWAC championship in program history.
"For all of us, we just take it one day at a time," second baseman Colton Olasin said. "Coming into tomorrow, it's the same mentality: get to the next day, survive one more day. So tomorrow, we're hoping to survive one more day and do what we must to finish the job."
Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman will face off tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3.