The Southern baseball team got its best pitching performance in Southwestern Athletic Conference play Friday at Prairie View, but the Jaguars couldn’t sustain the momentum and fell in the remaining two games, 8-2 and 9-7.
Southern returns to action Tuesday night with a nonconference home game against Nicholls State (27-16) at 6 p.m. at Lee-Hines Field. The Colonels swept a three-game series from Southern earlier this season.
Southern kept pace in the SWAC West Division standings as Texas Southern lost two of three to Grambling, tightening the race at the top. TSU, which beat Southern four consecutive times the previous weekend, is 15-5 with three weekends remaining, a half-game ahead of Grambling at 15-6. Prairie View is third at 13-8 and Southern is 11-9.
The Jaguars have a chance to make up some ground this weekend. Southern plays host to Alcorn State, which is 3-18 in SWAC play. Southern swept the Braves last month, outscoring them 43-13.
Ranard Grace was stellar on the mound for the Jaguars in Friday’s 13-1 victory, allowing one run and two hits with four strikeouts and four walks in a seven-inning complete game.
Tyeler Hawkins and Jalon Mack each knocked in four runs for the Jaguars, who jumped ahead with four runs in the second inning. KJ White, who had two hits, had a two-run single to start the rout and later stole home for another run. Mack had an RBI double and a three-run homer, and Hawkins added a two-run single as the Jaguars added seven more runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
On Saturday, the Jaguars were held to two runs and five hits by Michael Dews, who struck out 11 batters in eight innings. Kameron Byrd had two of the hits for Southern. The Panthers scored three runs in the seventh inning to break it open.
In the Sunday finale, the lead changed hands four times before PVU prevailed. Southern led 6-3 as Hawkins, Mack and Ryan Ollison hit home runs, but PVU scored five in the fifth inning to take the lead for good. Byrd had three hits, and Ollison and Dominic Joseph had two each.
Nicholls hasn’t played since a 10-7 loss to Louisiana Tech on Wednesday. Senior first baseman Edgar Alvarez leads the Colonels with a .420 batting average, nine home runs and 53 RBIs. Senior outfielder Garrett Felix is hitting .312 with two homers and 31 RBIs.
Felix leads the team with 11 stolen bases. The Colonels have 62 steals in 84 attempts as a team.