NEW ORLEANS, La. – Southern advanced to the winners bracket after opening the Southwestern Athletic Conference baseball tournament with a 10-5 win over Jackson State Wednesday.
The Jaguars (18-22) will face the winner of the Alabama State, Prairie View A&M matchup Thursday at 3 p.m. Jackson State (30-24) plays the loser of the matchup at 9 a.m.
Six Jaguars finished with a multi-hit day.
They were led by Marcus Tomlin and Jose DeLa Torre who finished with a game-high three hits each.
DeLa Torre also tied for the game-high of two RBI.
J’Markus George pitched eight strong innings for the Jaguars, striking out 10 and allowing just three earned runs and one walk. He improved to 3-4 on the year with the win.
Southern opened scoring in the bottom of the third inning. Robinson Mateo led off and was hit by starter Alex Juday.
He then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher. After Lance Jones walked, the pair executed a perfect double steal and Mateo crossed the plate.
Jones sprinted to third on a single by Tyler Kirksey and scored on Rivers Frederick’s sacrifice fly to center, giving the Jaguars the 2-0 lead.
Tomlin then singled to left field and Kirksey came around to score. Juday got the next two batters to fly and ground out to end the inning and get out of trouble.
Southern was up 7-2 before the Tigers rallied in the top of the seventh. Tilur Smith led off with a single through the left side and came around to score on Dylan Parker’s double to right field. Jaylen Bledsoe came in to pinch run for Parker and put on his jets.
When Bryce Brown put the ball in play on an 0-1 pitch, Bledsoe sped to third, and took advantage of a wild throw towards him by heading around to home and sliding under the tag at the plate. Gary Thomas would hit a two out single to center to score the final run of the inning and pull the Tigers to within 7-5.
SWAC.org
