Shreveport, LA—The Grambling State Tigers’ baseball team return to championship glory became a little tougher today as they fell, 20-5, to the Alcorn State Braves in the second round of the 2011 Southwestern Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament.
The Tigers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a solo homerun by SWAC newcomer of the year Eldred Barnett. From that point on it was all Alcorn as they scored runs in each of the next four innings including a 15 run fourth inning which broke the game open.
Down 20-1 in the sixth, Barnett, who provided all of the Tigers offense with two of their five hits, blasted a grand slam for his second homerun of the game to left field.
The Tigers pitching staff struggled as much as the hitters allowing a combined 20 earned runs on 15 hits with 11 walks.
Alcorn’s Brandon Hollins and Eduardo Gonzales had two hits apiece and combined for four runs and four RBI’s. With the game called early on the ten-run rule, Troy Williams pitched a complete seven innings for the win.
The Tigers’ will drop into the loser’s bracket of this double elimination tournament and face Texas Southern at 9:00 AM the winner of which will face the Braves at 3:00 PM at Shreveport’s Fair Ground Park.