Mobile Takes Opener From Talladega

MOBILE, Ala-- The University of Mobile baseball team hung on to beat Talladega College 9-8 in Friday afternoon's series opener at Mobile.

Mobile (4-6) will host Talladega for a noon doubleheader to finish the three-game series Saturday.

Michael Clay picked up the win for Mobile with 5.1 innings of 7-hit, 5-run ball. The lefty fanned 4 and walked 3. John Ladnier struck out two in a scoreless 9th to pick up the save for the Rams.

Offensively, Mobile had plenty of stars with 15 hits on the day, led by Justin Beck's 4-5, 2 RBI afternoon. Jake Halverson, Cameron White, Brad Sheffield, Cody Barber and Cody Sanderson all finished with 2 hits for Mobile, with Travis Williamson, Michael Tedesco and Sanderson driving in a pair of runs.

Talladega struck first with a run in the 1st, but the Rams sent eight hitters to the plate in the bottom of the 1st and capitalized on a pair of errors to take a 3-1 lead. The Rams then tacked on a run in the 3rd and erupted for a 4-spot in the 4th to seemingly put the game away. Mobile sent 9 hitters to the plate in that 4th inning, with Tedesco's 2-out, pinch-hit 2-run single providing the highlight of the frame.

Mobile fell apart in the 5th and 6th frames with sloppy defense and pitching to allow Talladega to pull within 8-7, but the Rams grabbed the eventual winning run in the bottom of the 6th when Beck singled home Sanderson, who had reached on a walk and advanced two bases on a pair of balks.

The Tornadoes added one in the 8th, but Ladnier closed it out with a strikeout with runners on 1st and 2nd in the 9th.