Baseball’s Season Ends In BCWS NAIA Championship

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Rust College baseball program could not solve the puzzle that was the #4 Florida Memorial Lions, going undefeated against #2 Wiley (9-2) and #3 Paine (12-6) but winless versus FMU as they fell by a score of 13-3 in eight, ending their run in the Black College World Series.

It was an overall struggle all evening long against the men from Miami, scoring just three runs after averaging 8.3 over the previous three contests in the NAIA bracket.

Malik Berrien had an error-aided inside the park home run, officially getting scored an RBI-triple before an errant throw into third base let him jog home.

Shemaar Stapleton had the Bearcats' other run batted in, driving home Victor Clay on a seeing-eye single then scoring himself on Berrien's next at-bat blast.

Clay reached twice via a single plus a walk, stealing Rust's only bag of the night.

Jalin Thomas also got on-base a pair of times on a hit and a free pass while Stone Teague laced a hard-hit ball into the outfield for a knock.

Xavier Campbell closed out the season with four innings, allowing just two earned runs on top of five strikeouts and zero walks.

Head Coach John Bates and the Baseball Bearcats should hold their heads up high, ending the campaign with its second straight .500 or better overall record (25-25), the inaugural GCAC Regular Season Championship, an appearance in the conference title game, and making it further than any Rust squad had before in the Black College World Series, earning the top seed and battling through the losers bracket to reach the NAIA Championship Game.

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