May 23, 2009

GAME 14 - Southern 10, Grambling State 9 (12 innings)

Jesse Olivar's single scored James Armstrong to give Southern a 10-9 win in 12 innings in the SWAC Baseball Tournament.

The Jaguars (29-15)  advance to play Alcorn in Sunday's Championship game at 1 p.m.

Grambling State (17-37) scored eight runs in the second-fifth innings. Brandon Smith's two-run homer and Arthur Mazierski's RBI single game the Tigers an 8-1 lead.

Southern took the lead with a big sixth inning. The Jaguars had one hit while taking advantage of five walks, a hit batsman and a wild pitch to score four runs to cut the deficit to 8-5. The big blow in the inning was James Armstrong's grand slam that gave the Jaguars their first lead 9-8.

Grambling tied the score at 9-9 in the seventh on Mazierksi's RBI single

Game 13 - Alcorn State 7, Texas Southern 6

Alcorn State defeated Texas Southern 7-6 to advance to the SWAC Championship Game.

The Braves (28-18) will play for their first ever SWAC Baseball Championship.

The top of the lineup helped set that tone for the Alcorn State offense.1-2-3 hitters Joshua Brumfield, Adrian Bowens, and Jabari Graham combined go 6-for-11 with six runs scored. Graham had two RBIs for the Braves, who advanced to the Championship Game for the first time since 2006.

However, Alcorn State needed every out, as the defending champion Texas Southern (24-29) would not go away. The Tigers rallied from 5-2 and 6-3 and 7-4 deficits. Texas Southern chipped away with single runs in the final three innings and had the tying run at the plate with two outs as Earnest Rhone's RBI single brought the Tigers to within one at 7-6

Alcorn reliever Tony Gonzales, who pitched the final four innings, struck out Texas Southern's Michael Norris looking to end the game.

The Braves became the first SWAC team since 2006 to lose their first tournament game and advance to the title game. The last team to do it - Alcorn State and Head Coach Willie "Rat" McGowan Sr., who is retiring at the end of the 2009 season.

GAME 12 - Grambling 5, Southern 4

Grambling rallied to a 5-4 win over Southern to force an elimination game.

The game, which originally began Friday night, was suspended by rain and resumed at noon Saturday.

The Tigers came back from a 3-1 deficit with a pair of runs in each of the sixth and seventh innings. Grambling plated two runs when a two-out throwing error allowed the Tigers to tie the score.

In the seventh, Milt Barney gave the Tigers the lead on an RBI triple to center, scoring Arthur Mazierski. Barney later scored on a sacrifice fly.

Southern scored a run in the top of the eighth on a solo home run by Brad McDavid but could get no closer.

Odingo Davila (1-0) went the distance, limiting the Jaguars to one run and four hits in the final six innings.