The Southern baseball team missed out on a couple of midweek games because of weather and a scheduling mishap, but the Jaguars can make some serious headway in the Southwestern Athletic Conference standings when they travel to meet rival Grambling this weekend.
Because of recent bad weather, the series will begin with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday and a single game at 1 p.m. Sunday. All games will be at Grambling’s Wilbert Ellis Field.
This meeting marks the final series of the first round of Western Division play. Southern (13-15, 7-3) is tied with Texas Southern for second place in the West, 1½ games behind Grambling (12-17, 9-2).
“We did some work in the cages because of the rain, but we were also able to get on the football practice field,” Jaguars coach Chris Crenshaw said. “I talked to the team about what this weekend means. We’ve been hitting the ball better lately, but we have to hit with runners on base.”
Outfielder and leadoff hitter Tyeler Hawkins paces Southern with a .420 average and six home runs with 27 RBIs, followed by No. 3 hitter Khyle Radcliffe with a .389 mark, four homers and a team-best 32 RBIs. Hawkins and Radcliffe each have 13 stolen bases.
In last Sunday's loss to Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the Jaguars left 14 runners on base and struck out nine times, four times on called third strikes.
The Southern pitching rotation will likely be Ranard Grace, Drew Lasseigne and Joseph Semien. The Jaguars staff must rebound from last week, when it allowed 39 runs and 52 hits against UAPB in losing two of three games.
Grambling has been a prolific offense this season with a team batting average of .295, fourth in the SWAC, and 26 homers, the third-best team total. The Tigers have won 10 of their last 14 games.
Leading the way for Grambling is designated hitter Julian Murphy with a .372 average, two homers and 21 RBIs. First baseman Ashton Inman is hitting .363 with three homers and 26 RBIs.
Preseason Player of the Year and All-SWAC third baseman Cameron Bufford is batting .320 with five home runs and 24 RBIs.
Grambling’s pitching rotation is likely to have Mason Martinez in the first game, followed by Phillip Bryan and Carlos Peguero. Martinez is 6-1 with a 4.67 ERA.
The Tigers haven’t been a particularly strong pitching team, but Grambling did sweep UAPB, the top hitting team in the conference, and held the Lions to 10 runs in a three-game series last month.