ATLANTA (WTXL) — The Florida A&M University baseball team did it the hard way.
The Rattlers won four consecutive games to keep their 2023 season alive and completed their memorable journey in the 2023 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) baseball tournament with a 9-6 win against rival Bethune-Cookman in the championship game Sunday.
With the win, FAMU (29-28) secured its first SWAC baseball tournament championship and earned the SWAC’s automatic bid to compete in the 2023 NCAA Division I baseball tournament.
The Rattlers, the designated away team in the championship game, got their offense going early in the top of the first inning at Georgia Tech’s Mac Nease Baseball Park at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Ty Hanchey’s RBI double gave the Rattlers a 1-0 lead.
Sebastian Greico and Janmikell Bastardo followed with RBI singles to up the FAMU lead to 3-0 after a ½ inning.
Bethune-Cookman (33-27) scored a run in the bottom of the second inning on a Manny Souffrain solo home run to trim the deficit to 3-1.
Wakulla High School grad Jared Weber hit a solo home run in the top of the third to extend the Rattler lead to 4-1.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Wildcats posted back-to-back RBI singles to cut the FAMU lead to 4-3.
That would be the closest the Wildcats would get as FAMU scored a run in the fourth, two runs in the seventh and a run in the eighth and ninth innings.
The Rattlers hit three home runs in the championship game as Greico added a two-run home run in the seventh inning and Hanchey added a solo shot in eighth.
FAMU led 8-3 after the top of the eighth inning.
Hanchey went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and three RBI, Greico also went 3-for-5 batting at the plate with two runs scored and three RBI.
B-CU scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth and a run in the bottom of the ninth.
Robert Moya led the Wildcat offense with two hits, a two-run home run in the eighth inning and three RBI.
Hunter Viets got the start on the mound for Florida A&M and pitched 7 2/3 innings, gave up 12 hits, five earned runs, two walks and posted five strikeouts for the win; his seventh of the season.
Zach Morea, a Lawton Chiles High School grad, pitched 1 1/3 innings in relief, gave up two hits, an earned run, zero walks to earn the save.
Morea’s four saves during the tournament led the senior to be selected as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Joining Morea on the SWAC all-tournament team were teammates Bastardo, Greico, Weber and Viets.
FAMU will find out what regional they will compete in when the NCAA Division I baseball tournament bracket is released Monday.
FAMU returns to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2019 season.
