Rough in the Diamond: Men’s baseball loses weekend series 1-2

Coming into game three of the weekend series, the Southern University Baseball team (4-11, 2-6) faced off against the Panthers of Prairie View A&M (6-18, 3-3) to break the 1-1 tie on Sunday, March 19. In recap, SU took game 1 of the series on Friday, March 17, 6-5 while the Panthers took game 2, pulling away in the ninth inning 14-6. Game 3 would repeat game 2 for the Panthers but in a come from behind fashion as the Jaguars fall 6-8.
In the top of the first, the Panthers got things going with a triple to right center by left fielder Xavier Jefferson and then RBI (run-batted-in) hit by Right Fielder Cody Den Beste. After giving up the one run, SU pitcher Harold Myles earned 2 strikeouts and popped up one batter to end the inning.
In the bottom of the 1st, the Jags could not answer back right away as the first two batters grounded out and popped up to start the inning. SU left fielder, Dondrayas Harris, was on base with a walk allowed by Panthers pitcher Andreus Faltesek, however, designated hitter John Pope’s at bat led to the last of the inning; Harris being tagged out at second for falling off the bag.
In the top of the 2nd, Panthers got the train rolling again with designated hitter Steven Williams’s double off the right center wall, a walk by Myles and then a 2RBI single to left field by Jefferson. Fortunately for the Jags, Jefferson was caught stealing on a throw out at second by Johnson to end the inning. Also during the inning, Myles struck Panthers shortstop Andrew Garcia swinging.
In the bottom of the second, Jags finally got on the board with single by Johnson and double by right fielder Jacob Juge to set up a sacrifice fly RBI by third base Malik Blaise. Panthers would end the inning with a ground out on SU center fielder Hampton Hudson’s at bat.
In the top of the third, Jags stepped it up defensively, getting the Panthers’ three, four and five position batters out 1-2-3. During the inning, Myles struck out Panthers’ catcher Nathan Carter and heroically made diving catch and toss to first base to record the last out.
In the bottom of the third, the Jags started off rough and ended rough. In the start of the inning, Mateo and Harris were out on pop ups but Pope and Watts were able to get on base for their at bats. However, the Jags would not able to capitalize with runners on base. During Johnson’s at bat, he managed to put the ball in play but Panthers’ second baseman, Kevin Macias, field the hit and threw SU first baseman Ryan Watts out at second to end the inning.
In the top of the 4th, Myles continued to battle hard as he collectively put out the Panthers’ seventh, eighth and ninth batters, leaving the sixth batter on base. Myles performed a double play on a unexecuted bunt by Macias, which popped up to Myles to allowed him to throw the Steven Williams at first. Shortly after, Myles ended the inning by striking out Garcia.
The Jags continued to struggle in the fourth to find momentum as again they were able get runners on base but failed to make a score. Faltesek struck out Juge, Blaise was tagged out during shortstop Phillip Williams at bat and Williams was later put out at second on hit by Mateo.
In the top of the 5th, the Jags defense were to get things done collectively. After Myles walk and hit one batter on a wild pitch, he was able to get Den Beste to lay one down on the ground to Williams at shortstop for a 6-3 double play. Myles would later ground out Panthers third baseman, Tyrone Thomas, to end the inning.
The bottom of the fifth gave the Jags hope of turning this game around as Harris’s base hit led to Pope’s 2RBI homerun to spark not only his teammates but their fans as well. Pope smashed Faltesek’s fast ball on a 1-1 pitch over the right center wall to tie the lead at 3-3. Even after the pitching change made by Panthers head coach Auntwan Riggins, the Jags continued on their rally adding one run with Juge’s RBI double to left field to bring in Watts after Johnson advanced him on a sacrifice bunt, making the score 4-3. However, Faltesek’s relief pitcher Tyler Laux fought back, striking out the Jags eighth and ninth batters to in the inning.
The Jags seem to control the sixth inning, starting on defense getting the Panthers’ fifth, sixth and seventh batters out. After Myles grounded out the first batter and gave up a base hit, Mateo fielded a line drive hit by Steven Williams and completed the double play on a throw out to first putting out Panthers’ first base, Carson Lee.
In the bottom of the sixth, the cleanup hitter Pope would put his power on display again earning another 2 RBI homerun to put the Jags up 6-3. Hudson’s lead-off single followed by Johnson’s sacrifice bunt made it possible for Pope to gain his third and fourth RBI of the game.
“I thought we had all the momentum in the world at that point,” said Pope, “Especially after my second homerun.”
However, offensively, this would be the last of the Jags scoring attack of the game. It was in the 7th inning where the Panthers would start to make their comeback. After a pitching change made by the head coach Roger Cador to relief Myles with Senior pitcher J’Markus George, Jamison successfully performed sacrifice bunt to advance the runners on first and second base. With a ground ball hit to Phillip Williams by Jefferson, Macias was able to score from third, chopping the Jags lead to 2 (6-4). George, however, would record the last out by striking out Den Beste.
In the bottom of the seventh, SU’s momentum started to decreased slowly as the Panthers defense began to gain to stiffened. After Johnson’s fly out to center field, Juge was able to get on base with single out in left field. Unfortunately, the Jags would fail to capitalize as the next two batters were put out one after another.
Fortunately for the Jags, their defense would seem to hold up with giving up a run in the eighth. George would continue the battle on the mound as he struck out the Panthers fourth and fifth batters before giving up two hits to the next two batters. Cador would again make another pitching change to bring in senior pitcher Troy Lewis in hopes of ending the inning quickly. After walking one batter, making the bases loaded, Lewis got Garcia to fly one out to left field to record the last out.
Riggins pitching changes in the eighth inning gave the Panthers a fighting chance heading into the ninth. Pitchers Phillip Gay and Charles Philpott collectively on two strikeouts and one catch by the Carter caught in foul territory to end the inning. The Panthers would then turn on the heat in the last inning of play.
During the Panthers last at bat, Lewis did his best to prevent the rally but the they prevailed. The Panthers were able to put runners into position to score while firing off several hits to tally 4 runs in the inning, putting the score in their favor 8-6.
“It starts with me…I take responsibility for that and we have all to make plays,” said Lewis, “We have to learn from our mistakes but we can’t make the same mistake twice.”
However, this would not dampen the Jags hopes for a comeback just yet. At the start of the Jags last at bat, Johnson managed to single to right field to get thing going. After sophomore, Javeayean Williams, was substituted in for Johnson as a pinch runner, Williams successfully stole second beating the tag and then third on a wild pitch by Philpott. Philpott would soon be relieved by Jordan Johnson who started off a strike out by later walk two back to back batters to load the bases. In Riggins final tactic in hopes of escaping with the victory, he looked to pitcher Nic Campos to end the inning. Campos’s opponent at the plate was Mateo, who came into Sunday’s game batting at .204. Unfortunately for the Jags, Mateo hit an infield fly to first base on a 1-0 pitch to end the game. When asked about the game, Cador says it’s all about being fundamentally sound. He mentioned that Jags will have to grow from their mistakes and play as a team.
“I thought we pitched relatively well. If we had made plays, we would have kept some scores off the board,” finished Cador.
Next up for the Jags will be Nicholls State on Wednesday at 6 PM in John L. Guidry Stadium.