The Southern baseball season continued on its roller-coaster ride last weekend as the Jaguars went from a tie for first place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference West Division standings into third place.
Southern (17-20, 10-6 SWAC) dropped all four games at Texas Southern and saw its losing streak reach five games. The Jaguars dropped a 6-4 decision on Friday, lost 8-7 and 14-1 in a Saturday doubleheader, and fell again Sunday 9-4 to the Tigers, who strengthened their hold on first place.
Texas Southern (18-18, 14-3 SWAC) is now a game and a half in front of Grambling (16-20, 13-5). Southern is just ahead of Prairie View (20-22, 11-7) and plays at Prairie View this weekend. The Jaguars swept the Panthers in their series in Baton Rouge.
The East Division is a two-team race with Florida A&M at 15-3, just ahead of Bethune-Cookman at 14-4 while Alabama State is in third place at 10-8.
Southern swept Grambling on the road the weekend before but struggled with its bullpen and offense throughout the Texas Southern series, getting outscored 37-16 despite being outhit only 37-35. Southern took early leads in three of the four games, including 6-0 in the second game and 4-0 in the fourth game, but in the four games combined scored only two runs after the fourth inning.
After dropping the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Jaguars fell behind 11-0 in the first inning of the nightcap as the Tigers got five hits and four walks off Southern starting pitcher Antoine Harris, who retired only one batter.
Ranard Grace pitched effectively in the first game, allowing four runs in seven innings with three strikeouts and three walks.
Ryan Ollison, Dominic Joseph and Logan Sanders had two hits each in the first game, with Ollison picking up his fourth home run. Kameron Byrd had two hits and three RBIs in the second game, while Khyle Radcliffe had a triple and Dylan Jones a home run and two RBIs.
Rashard Grace had three hits and an RBI for Southern in the final game, but Texas Southern scored seven runs — four in the second inning — off Southern starter Joseph Semien.
Outfielder Tyeler Hawkins continues to lead Southern with a .376 batting average and seven home runs with 33 RBIs. Radcliffe is batting .360 with a team-best 37 RBIs and four home runs. Shortstop KJ White is batting .359.
Southern has no midweek game scheduled and will play at Prairie View in a series beginning at 6 p.m. Friday. The teams are scheduled to play at 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.