Jags begin their home stretch defeating SLU 11-8

After traveling to New Orleans only to have their game against Loyola University cancelled due to rain last Wednesday, the Southern University Jaguars baseball team (24-4 overall, 17-1 Southwestern Athletic Conference) traveled to Tiger Country to begin their sweep of Jackson State University (13-10 overall, 9-7 SWAC).
The Jags went to Jackson State last Saturday to defeat their conference rival 7-3 before a crowd of 350 in a brisk, cool day that seemed to be more suitable for football. On Sunday, many members of the Jaguar Nation showed up after church services on Sunday at Lee-Hines Field to watch the Jags win a seemingly heaven sent sweep over the Tigers, defeating them 13-5.
On Tuesday, at Lee-Hines Field, the Jags faced Southeastern State University (7-17 overall) and their winning streak of eight games extended to nine as they defeated the Lions 11-8.
Junior second baseman Rickie Weeks hit a RBI triple early in the game that contributed to the 5-2 lead Southern had over SLU in the third inning. As of March 31, the current SWAC Player of the Week had a .494 batting average with a .955 slugging percentage. Also, the projected SWAC Player of the Year has not been caught yet while stealing 16 bases.
As the game progressed, the Jags and the Lions shared a combined 24 hits and 19 runs scored. The two teams also exchanged a total of nine pitchers with Jaguars junior Corey Poret collecting the win.
Although the Jags lead the SWAC, players such as junior first baseman Kevin Vital is not taking any of the wins for granted-especially as they prepare for their two-day face-off against Texas Southern, which begins Saturday.
“It’s going to be a dogfight,” said Vital. “If they can get one win, they will be satisfied, that’s why we have to be aggressive. We have a tendency to be lackadaisical during some innings, and we can’t do that if we want to win.”
The opening pitch of the first game will be at 1 p.m. for both games (Saturday and Sunday) at Lee-Hines Field.