Neither thunder storms nor the Texas Southern Tigers couldn't stop the Grambling State Tigers as an early 6-2 lead held threw a stormy seventh inning, despite two TSU (7-12, 3-4 SWAC) runs and a Grambling State pitching change. GSU ( 5-11, 3-1 SWAC) won 6-4.

Both teams had strong pitching, and head baseball coach James Cooper said after the game that his starting pitcher, Isaac O'Bear, had a better game than the TSU pitcher.
GSU pitcher Isaac O"Bear  had four strikeouts, Daniel Barnett homered and had three RBI's. Barnett has four homeruns on the season and 19 RBI's. Creighton Hoover 1K and one save.

"Ike (O'Bear)  is a dog," said Cooper. "He's one of the fiercest competitors that we have. We knew that Texas Southern was going to throw their best pitcher. He did a good job as well. We were just able to bang out more hits than them."

"Ike still commanded the strike zone," added Cooper. "He still had a little bit too many free bases. Which I'm going to talk to him about a little later tonight. But he was able to pitch out of some jams. He was able to put some zeros up and keep the offense to a minimum. So it was real big for us."

Cooper said he was going to put a freshman in the game, and he did. It was his first time Devin Washington was in this type of situation, and Cooper wanted to make sure the team got behind him and supported him from the dugout. Washington finished the seventh inning with a strikeout.

In addition to the joy brought by a win, it was opening day at Wilbert Ellis Field at R.W.E. Jones Park. The GSU team was happy to have  a reconstructed pitching mound, home plate and a fresh new infield.

Game two of the three game weekend series starts at 3 p.m Saturday at the Ellis Field on the GSU campus.