By Daniel Evans

 

The Selma Times-Journal

 

 

 

Selma University made quick work of Oakwood Tuesday in a 25-0 win that didn’t even last three full innings.

 

The Bulldogs scored 24 runs in the second inning, including an incredible stretch where 29 consecutive Selma batters reached base safely.

 

Ten of those batters were safe on walks or errors, as the Bulldogs took advantage of Oakwood mistakes.

 

“We came out today and took care of business real quick like we should playing against a team that isn’t up to our level,” said Selma head baseball coach Adrian Holloway. “You have to come out, play your game, not try to do too much and stay within ourselves. I think the guys did pretty well at that today.”

 

The game as a whole took just over an hour to complete. Oakwood made the over three hour trek from Huntsville Tuesday but had only nine players at its disposal and it showed.

 

Ambassadors’ pitcher Kendall Elder struggled to find the strike zone, but the Oakwood defense didn’t make matters any easier for him. Elder walked 12 of the 40 batters he faced, but Bulldogs’ players also reached base on numerous balls booted by Ambassador infielders in the second inning.

 

When Elder threw a good pitch, a Bulldogs’ batter usually took advantage of it. A walk by Tremayne Hopps started Selma’s incredible second inning performance at the plate. Cortez Rodgers-Allen was the first Bulldogs player to get a hit, singling to score Hopps to make it 3-0.

 

After Daryl Watkins and Cullen Boswell reached base on walks, Deshun Bolling singled to center field, scoring two, and making the score 6-0.

 

Travis Jean and Ryan Lewis were also walked and Ronald Bell reached first on an error. C.J. Jones singled to right field and Hopps scored on an error on a ball booted by the Ambassadors.

 

Allen doubled to score C.J. Jones and Hopps, making it 12-0 Bulldogs. Unfortunately for Oakwood, Selma was just getting started.

 

Four straight walks — split up by a wild pitch that scored Allen — loaded the bases and made it 14-0 Bulldogs. Ryan Lewis’ single to right field scored Cullen Boswell and Deshun Bolling to give Selma a 16-0 advantage.

 

Two consecutive errors allowed Ronald Bell and Jones to reach safely and load the bases. Hopps came through in the clutch, hitting a triple that bounced off the right field wall and cleared the bases to make it 20-0.

 

After a single by Allen tacked on one more run, the Ambassadors pulled Elder in favor of Timothy Cartwright, who was playing first base. Cartwright gave up back-to-back singles by Daryl Watkins and Boswell before surrendering a 3-run homerun to Bolling that soared well over the wall in left field. The homerun made it 25-0 Selma.

 

Cartwright managed to get out of the inning by forcing Bell to strike out and Jones to ground out.

 

Shane Jeffcoat pitched the first two innings for Selma, giving up one hit and getting all six of his outs on strikeouts.

 

“Shane Jeffcoat is… good no matter who we play,” Holloway said. “He’s had several good outings this year against some good quality opponents”

 

Hopps added to his tremendous day by pitching the final inning. He struck out one and gave up no hits in his first ever pitching appearance.

 

The game was called after two and a half innings due to the mercy rule, which called for a game to end if one team had a 20 run or larger advantage after three innings.