Baseball Season in Full Swing

The dugout returns to glory when the Southern University baseball team kicks off the season.
The Jaguars just want to have a good season. The former 2009 SWAC Champions and 2013 Western Division Champs seem to look forward to a positive season, not exactly higher aspirations. 
This however has not stopped players from playing with high expectations. Per an Advocate representative, Head Coach Roger Cador says, “We are re-building the team.” Applying that only two veterans, 2nd baseman Marcus Tomlin and first baseman Bryan Rowry, both seniors were on the team. 
The Jags (2-2) won its first game against Grambling Friday and Saturday, one at home and one away in the New Orleans’ Inaugural MLB Youth Academy Invitational. 
In the opener at Lee-Hines Field, SU faced Grambling and came out with a 7-5 win, yet unsatisfied Coach Cador said they were just playing regular ball this season. 
During that game, Junior Santos Salividar allowed two hits and one walk, while leaving Grambling scoreless until the fifth inning.  Grambling arrived in the sixth inning with Johnathon Timeo scoring the first run.  Grambling scored four more runs but couldn’t keep up with the Jags. 
When SU played Grambling again the next night at Wesley Barrow Stadium in New Orleans, the Tigers met with the same fate and lost again by the same score of 7-5. 
Did the past repeat itself? I think not. 
The Jaguars trailed Grambling 5-2 because of the starting pitcher T.J. Murphy. On the pitcher’s mound, he made sure SU was not on course for another victory.  In the eighth inning SU overwhelmed the mound with five runs that gave them the lead for good, starting with a RBI from Marcus Tomlin.
Per Paul Geoghan, Tomlin said, “Things weren’t falling our way but the eighth inning was our inning. We never gave up and things happened.” 
Unfortunately, the only two losses of the season occurred against UNO and Jackson State University.
Ron Maestri, coming out of retirement, got his first victory after 29 years of rest when the Privateers beat Southern 9-1 on Sunday at LSU’s Alex Box Stadium on the final day of the MLB Urban Invitational. 
Per Les East: “We didn’t play well,” Cador said. “I told them before the game to not look at the two previous games that this team played. They were playing against the best team in the county, so they may not look as good as they are.  Plus we’re not where we’re going to be so we can’t be taken for granted.” 
SU scored their first run during the 4th inning thanks to sophomore outfielder/in-fielder, Harley Wiltz. 
The next loss was against the Jackson State Tigers (4-1) at the Braddy Field in Jackson, Mississippi. The victory over the Jags gave the Tigers the lead in the Eastern Division of the SWAC. 
The Tigers led the Jags by 2 runs in the first inning and only allowed the Jags to score two points in the ninth inning. The final score was 6-2. 
With progress moving forward, Southern became the leaders of the Western Division and continue into the season with positivity.  Come out to Lee Hines Field when SU faces off against Baton Rouge Community College on Friday, February 21st at 6:00p.m. and Saturday, February 22nd at 1:00 p.m.