The Panthers baseball
team took a break from SWAC play
last week as they travelled to play
the 16th ranked Texas A&M Aggies
on April 22 for the first time in the
schools’ respective histories.
The Panthers were preparing
for the matchup during the days
heading up to the game because they
knew this would be a good measuring
rod to see where the team was
as they headed toward the SWAC
Tournament in late May.
Unfortunately for the Panthers,
the Texas A&M bats were too
much as they won 21-4. The Panthers
did, however, jump out to an
early lead in the first inning as John
Villapando scored on an error by
the Aggie third baseman to give the
Panthers the early lead. The Aggies
then responded with seven runs in
the bottom of the first and five more
in the bottom of the second to make
the score 12-1. The Panther bats
came alive once again in the bottom
of the inning as Brandon Kendricks
and Brandon Whitby both hit RBI
singles and Oscar Reed earned an
RBI from a fielder’s choice to keep
the Panthers in touch at 12-4. However,
Texas A&M closed the door
with nine more runs in the third to
extend the score to 21-4, where it
remained until the game was called
in the 7th inning. Terry Salter (2-5)
received the loss for the Panthers.
On Saturday, the Panthers
looked to rebound as they hosted a
three-game-set against the Broncs of
UT-Pan American. In the first game
of a doubleheader on Saturday, the
Panther offense paced the team as
they came from behind in dramatic
fashion to capture the 11-10 win.
The Panthers wasted no time in this
game as they jumped out to a 3-0
lead in the bottom of the first with a
three-run-blast by Myrio Richard.
The Broncs answered with
a run in the top of the second, but
Prairie View came back with two
more runs in the bottom of the second
as a Pan American error extended
the inning. Odie Davis then hit a
clutch two out double to bring home
two runners which extended the lead
to 5-1. Then, the Broncs’ bats came
alive as they scored three runs in the
fourth and another in the fifth, all on
home runs, to tie the game at five.
The Panthers then responded
with another three runs on
the board in their half of the fifth on
a two-RBI double by Kendricks and
a sac fly by Richard. Pan American
scored another run in the top of the
sixth, but Prairie View answered
with a run in the bottom of the eighth
on an RBI single by Darryl Johnson
to give them an 8-5 advantage going
into the ninth. However, the Broncs
responded with a four-run-barrage
in the top of the ninth on a couple
of two-run-homers to take the lead,
10-9. But as they had all game, the
Panther bats came through again
as Oscar Reed hit a bases-loaded
double into left field as the tying and
winning runs came home to cap off
an exciting game with a Panther win
as the partisan crowd exhibited their
joy.
In the second game, the
Broncs began the scoring as they
hung two runs in the top of the first.
The Panthers came right
back with a matching two in the
bottom of the inning due to an RBI
single by Davis and a sacrifice fly by
The Panthers’ softball team
has struggled throughout this whole
season. They competed in a SWAC
tournament in Hattiesburg, Miss.
against the Mississippi Valley State
Devilettes and the Grambling State
Tigers.
The Panthers’ first game
was against the Devilettes in which
they lost 10-0. The Devilettes really
gave the Panthers a hard time only
allowing them two hits in the whole
game with no scores at all. The Panthers
also slacked on the defensive
side allowing the Devilettes to score
one hit and one run in the first inning.
As the Panthers lost focus, the
Devilettes took advantage of their
weakness and scored five more runs
with hits in the third. They really
set a distance on the Panthers adding
four more runs and five hits in
Richard. However, the Broncs kept
their offensive surge going with two
runs apiece in the second and third
innings and one in the fifth to push
the score to 7-2. The Panthers did
not go quietly as they hung three
in the bottom of the sixth as Reed
and Johnson both hit home runs to
cut the margin to 7-5. However, the
Panthers could not push any more
runs across as the Broncs forced a
split in the Saturday doubleheader.
In the rubber match of
the weekend series, the Pandora’s
box for the opponents, that is, the
Panthers offense came alive again
with an 18-run-barrage. The scoring
started in the bottom of the second
as Reed hit an RBI single that
brough in Kendricks and the floodgates
were opened in the bottom of
the third as the Panthers exploded
for eight runs. Whitby collected two
RBIs with a single up the middle,
Kendricks tripled home a run, Jason
Thomas and Reed each singled home
a run, and James Murphy capped
it off with a two-run-homer to left
center field. Prairie View scored two
more in the sixth to push the margin
to 12-0. The Broncs cut that lead in
half with a six-run-barrage of their
own in the top of the seventh but the
Panthers shut the door with their
own six spot in the bottom of the
seventh and the final ended 18-7.
With the weekend series
win, the Panthers (20-21) are nearing
the SWAC tournament and look
to be rounding into form both offensively
and defensively. Next on the
schedule for the Panthers are dates
with the Bearkats of Sam Houston
State University on Wednesday,
April 29, and a weekend series with
Texas Southern University starting
on Saturday, May 2, to conclude
SWAC regular season play.