Florida Memorial, the top seed in NAIA bracket, held off a late charge from Talladega to win their opening game of the 2022 Tyson Foods Black College World Series by a 5-4 score.  

Florida Memorial starting pitcher, Max Charnin, threw five innings of one-run ball, striking out two and allowing just three hits in the victory. His Tornado counterpart, Ricardo Blackman, allowed five runs over 6.1 innings and struck out four in the loss. 

Florida Memorial opened-up the game’s scoring with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Rohandry Javier led off the inning with a single, the first of his four hits on the day, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. After a fly out, Axel Gomez, hit a double down the right field line, bringing in Javier. A hit by pitch and a walk loaded the bases with two outs and gave Florida Memorial the opportunity to break the game open in the first inning. Instead, Fernando Vila flew out to center field and the inning ended with the Lions holding just a 1-0 lead.

Florida Memorial had runners on second and third with just one out in the bottom of the second inning, but Talladega got out of the jam and kept their deficit at one. That deficit, however, was almost immediately eliminated as the Tornadoes responded in the top of the third inning.  

Talladega led off the inning with Darlin Fernandez being hit by a pitch. Fernandez stole second and advanced to third after the catcher’s throw sailed into the outfield. Fernandez came home after Rafael Diaz singled through the right side of the infield, knotting the game up at one apiece. Diaz tried to press the issue and steal second base but was thrown out for the first out of the inning. Later in the inning, the Tornadoes had runners on first and second with an opportunity to take the lead, but Acevedo struck out to end the inning.  

The action picked up again in the bottom of the fourth inning with Florida Memorial breaking the tie in a big way. A pair of singles by Nathan Harris and Javier put on first and second with no outs. Harris stole third to put runners on the corner and was brought in on a sacrifice fly by the next hitter, Ulises Rodriguez. A strikeout made it two outs, but Gomez stepped up and blasted a ball over the left field fence for a two-run home run. The inning ended with Florida Memorial leading 4-1.  

The Lions had a golden opportunity to pad their lead, loading the bases with two outs, but they could only push across one run and make it a 5-1 game.  

Talladega wouldn’t go away. The Tornadoes put together a two-out rally in the top of the seventh inning, stringing together a pair of hits and a walk before a wild pitch brought home Diaz to make it 5-2. 

Talladega was down to its final six outs when they began the eighth inning. Acevedo led off the inning with a double and a single by Dominguez put runners on the corners, still with zero outs. Rincon singled to bring in Acevedo and bring the go-ahead run to the plate. Joselito Baez battled back to strike out the next two hitters, but he surrendered another RBI single, this one by Diaz, as Talladega made it a one-run contest. Baez was replaced by Isaias Espiritusantos and the Lion relief pitcher shut the door on the inning and maintained the Florida Memorial 5-4 lead.