Rattlers go into SWAC baseball tourney as No. 2 seed
FAMU photo by Devin Grimes
By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook Staff Writer
Nothing salvages a weekend baseball series like consistent hitting. FAMU can attest to that after pounding out 16 hits against Bethune-Cookman to win 6-1 for its only victory in three tries at Moore-Kittle Field.
FAMU, which held first place in the East Division of the SWAC just a week earlier, finished the regular season with a 26-28 overall record and 19-11 in the conference. That left the Rattlers in second place heading into the conference tournament this weekend.
Both FAMU and Bethune-Cookman have identical 19-11 records, but the Rattlers take second place by virtue of their 4-2 record in head-to-head play. The Wildcats are 24-29 overall heading into the tournament in Birmingham, Ala. Play started on Wednesday and will conclude Sunday.
Alabama State, 21-8 in conference play, is the No. 1 seed in the East Division. Behind FAMU and the Wildcats is Jackson State at No. 4
Southern captured the No. 1 seed in the West Division with a 21-9 record in league play. Grambling State is seeded second, followed by Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern. The eight teams will play a round-robin format with the two best finishers meeting for the championship and a berth to a NCAA baseball regional.
FAMU will face Texas Southern in its opening game in the tournament.
During the decisive final game of last weekend’s series, the Rattlers started working on securing second place in the division when they scored in the bottom of the second inning on a run-scoring single by Adam Haidermota. The Rattlers scored what amounted to the eventual winning runs as they sent three runners across the plate in the bottom of the third inning. The big FAMU hit was a RBI single by Adam Haidermota.
Haidermota gave FAMU an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh with another RBI single. Haidermota had a game-high three runs batted in.
In the second game of the series, FAMU managed seven hits but they weren’t enough to produce the runs that the Rattlers needed to avoid a 4-1 loss last Friday.
B-CU crossed home plate first on an RBI ground out at the top of the second to go up 1-0. The Wildcats added two more runs at the top of the third to go up 3-0. BCU scored again at the top of the fourth.
FAMU’s only run came on a solo home run by Pierini in the bottom of the third inning.
Wildcats starter Nolan Santos earned his sixth win of the season after six solid innings. Before his departure, the Pierini homer accounted for the only run he allowed on a five-hit effort that includes two walks, and six strikeouts.
In losing the opener of the series 5-3, the Rattlers struggled to find hits as they got only three. For seven innings the Rattlers couldn’t get a read on B-CU pitcher Joan Gonzalez, who worked in relief. Offensively, the Wildcats got two runs in the ninth to secure the win.
