Tallulah Academy finishes first-round sweep of Union Christian

Published 9:41 pm Thursday, April 24, 2025

By Ernest Bowker

Once the skies began to clear on Thursday, Tallulah Academy continued to rain runs down upon Union Christian.

J.T. McDaniel hit two RBI triples and Luke Moberley hit one as the Trojans beat Union Christian 16-1 to complete a two-game series sweep in the first round of the MAIS Class 2A baseball playoffs.

Tallulah Academy (18-10) won its seventh consecutive game and advanced to face either Tensas Academy or Claiborne Academy in a second-round series next week.

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“Hat’s off to UCA. They’re going to compete. But the goal here was to throw a couple guys, get some bullpens in, handle business and get ready for round two,” Tallulah coach Ryan Williams said.

The game was moved from Tallulah’s home field to the artificial turf at Key City Park in Vicksburg because of wet field conditions and rain that did not end until about an hour before the first pitch. The change in venue did nothing to shift the seemingly inevitable direction of the series, however.

Tallulah won 19-5 in Game 1, then kept up the pace in Game 2. It scored in all nine innings in which it batted in the two games.

Union Christian, which did not win a game this season, took advantage of three errors to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Tallulah answered with four runs in the bottom half, five more in the second, one in the third and six in the fourth.

McDaniel hit his RBI triples in the first and second innings, scoring Moberley both times. He finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Moberley’s triple came in the fourth inning and plated two runs. It was his only hit of the game, but he also walked twice, scored two runs and had two RBIs. Moberley was the Trojans’ starting pitcher as well. He only needed 39 pitches — 31 of them were strikes — to breeze through three innings, and allowed one hit and no walks while striking out six.

Charlie Vining finished up with two scoreless innings in which he struck out three batters. Vining also hit an RBI single and scored a run.

“Putting the bat on the ball, getting runners on is what we need to do,” Moberley said.

Every Tallulah Academy starter scored a run, and all but one had a hit. Moberley, McDaniel, Tripp Gayle, Denton Ray and Courtland Collins scored two runs each. Caleb Grady scored three. Collins also had two RBIs.

Caden Chandler was 2-for-3 and scored a run for Union Christian.

“You definitely want to take advantage of the first fastball you get. I’m proud to see the whole lineup taking hacks and putting the ball in play, for sure,” Williams said. “We’ve got some things to clean up on to get ready for next week, but I think we’ll be in good shape.”

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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