The day after dominating Alcorn State in a doubleheader sweep, the Southern baseball team played like it had a Monday hangover.
The Jaguars squandered a six-run lead against one of the worst teams in the conference and played poorly in all three phases of a 13-11 loss to the Braves at Lee-Hines Field.
Southern pitchers struggled throughout the day, the defense committed six errors and the offense went to sleep in the final four innings, garnering one hit and three base runners with only one getting past first base.
“It’s very disappointing to come out and play that way, especially on senior weekend,” said Southern coach Chris Crenshaw, whose team won 14-1 and 10-1 on Sunday. “There was no want-to. It’s been the story of the season. We don’t make adjustments, we compete when we want to compete, but that’s all on me.
“We had no fight. We made their year right there.”
The Jaguars (20-24, 13-10 Southwestern Conference) remained in fourth place in the West Division with two weekends to play.
Alcorn (5-36, 4-20 SWAC) had a season-high for runs in a SWAC game after entering the series last in team batting, runs scored and runs allowed.
Trailing 11-5, Alcorn bunched four hits, two walks, two wild pitches and a throwing error by Southern third baseman Ryan Ollison into a six-run sixth inning to tie the game. In the seventh, Southern shortstop Caleb Tart committed two of his three errors and second baseman KJ White one to aid in the eventual winning runs.
With runners at second and third and the infield in, a sharp grounder by Ben Martin rolled up Tart’s arm and into the outfield, allowing both runners to score easily.
In the ninth inning, Southern got the tying runs on base with two outs on a walk to Jacoby Radcliffe and a single by White, but Tyeler Hawkins hit an easy fly ball to left to end the game. Alcorn pitching retired 12 of the last 15 batters, six on strikeouts.
Kameron Byrd had three hits and four RBIs, including a bases-loaded triple in a six-run fourth inning for the Jaguars. Southern responded after Alcorn scored five in the top half of the inning to erase a 3-0 Southern lead.
The Jaguars didn’t have an answer for the second rally.
“It was a lack of focus, lack of execution,” Byrd said. “I feel we got a little comfortable there after the fourth inning. We came back on them, that was good. We felt like everybody was in the game. We were up, and it just kind of faded away. We lost track of where we were at.
“Anything can happen in a baseball game. We’re a better team than that. Everybody has to be locked in. Good teams, everybody is up and paying attention, focused. We need to regroup and refocus.”
Southern played without its leading hitter, Khyle Radcliffe, who was taking a final exam. Starting second baseman Jalon Mack also missed the series with an injury.
“We had some energy in the dugout but lack of execution and not making plays when they matter hurt us,” Crenshaw said. “There’s enough out there that we should have won the third ball game. That’s no excuse. Lack of execution, lack of want-to. That’s all on me.”