NEW ORLEANS, La. – Top seeded Texas Southern defeated Alcorn State 5-2 Wednesday night in game four of the SWAC baseball tournament.
The Tigers take on Grambling State at 6 p.m. Thursday night in the winner’s bracket. Alcorn State will face Alabama A&M at noon.
TSU was led by Zach Welz offensively. The center fielder finished with a game-high three hits going 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run. Felix Gomez improved to 4-2 on the year with the win after going 6.2 innings with four strikeouts.
Both team’s bats got hot in the second inning. Alcorn’s Moses Charles led off with a single up the middle. He advanced to second on a ground out and came around to score on a single to left by Wallace Rios with two outs.
Texas Southern’s Chris Scroggins started the Tigers rally with a triple to right field. Joel Rosario then reached on an error and Scroggins crossed the plate to tie up the game. With two outs and runners on first and second, Welz doubled to center, scoring both runs and extending the Tigers lead to two, 3-1.
SWAC Newcomer of the Year Collin Carroll cranked the first home run of the tournament over the center field wall in the sixth inning to pull the Braves back within one.
But two crucial runs in the bottom of the eighth for Texas Southern sealed the win.
SWAC.org
