SU takes two out of three against Panthers

Fortunately, for Southern, junior pitcher Joshua Kirk’s performance was well enough to get him and the Jaguars a win on Saturday’s game against Prairie View A&M.
Kirk pitched a two-hit shutout to help Southern split a doubleheader with Prairie View at Lee-Hines Field. Prairie View won the first game 5-2, and Southern, the second game 5-0.
“When you’re at home, you like to win every game, but we were fortunate to split,” said head coach Roger Cador. “We could have won game one, but our defense let us down, that’s why we lost game one. We won game two because we had a mixture of great pitching and timely hitting from Gene Filyaw Jr. who sealed the deal.”
The series kept the Jaguars behind the first-place Panthers in the Southwestern Athletic Conference standings. Sunday’s third game with Prairie View this weekend provided enough highs and lows for both teams to come away emotionally and physically drained.
“Sunday’s win was a tale of two stories,” Cador said. “We began playing well, but then we fell apart and almost lost the game. Fortunately, we showed the will to win by fighting back against a great Prairie View team.”
The late comeback averted what could have been a devastating loss for Southern, who took a 5-0 lead after four innings only to see Prairie View roar back for a 7-5 lead entering the ninth.
“We need to improve on defense,” Cador said. “On defense we don’t keep our concentration the entire game and on offense we tend to swing at pitches outside of the strike zone.”
The win was also important in the SWAC standings as Southern (11-12 overall, 8-4 SWAC) pulled within a game of West division leader Prairie View (20-10, 9-3) after winning two of three in the series.