On March 27 and 28, the Panther baseball team hosted the Tigers of Grambling State for an early three-game series in SWAC play, where the Panthers split the double-header.
In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Panthers fell to the Tigers 10-5.
The Tigers started scoring early as they crossed three in the opening inning keyed by a bases loaded single.
The Panthers responded with one in their half of the first and tied it at three with a two RBI double from Sal Hernandez.
However, the Tigers put themselves ahead for good as they struck for four runs in the top of the fifth on a grand slam by Mychal Roby to make the score 7-3.
Two Panther runs in the seventh on a two RBI single by Dominiq Harris made it 8-5 but the Tigers scored two more in the eighth to complete the scoring.
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Panthers sought to even the series. The visitors from Louisiana started the scoring in this game as well with a first inning run.
The Panthers tied the score with Jason Thomas scoring on a triple by Brandon Williams in the bottom of the second.
The Panthers briefly took the lead on a Thomas RBI single in the third inning and on two manufactured runs in the fourth, but Grambling responded with scores both times, keeping them in the lead 5-4.
Prairie View A&M took the lead in the bottom of the fifth with two runs to make it 6-5 and exploded for five runs in the bottom of the seven inning with a Hernandez grand slam bringing in most of those runs to make the score 11-5.
Each team scored another run to make the final score 12-6.
In the rubber match played on Sunday, the game was again decided by big innings. Grambling State started the scoring in the third inning as they plated four runs to grab a 4-0 lead.
The Panthers showed their comeback ability by scoring five runs of their own to grab a 5-4 lead after the fourth inning. However, the Tigers scored four more in the fifth to repossess the lead.
The Panthers again closed the gap to 8-7 after a Brandon Williams RBI single and a Jason sacrifice fly but five more runs in the ninth off Prairie View A&M pitching ultimately doomed the Panthers as Grambling State won the game 13-8 and the series.