BATON ROUGE, La. | Rafael Ramirez, III belted his 11th homer of the season, a grand slam, in the fifth inning to cap a four-run inning as the Grambling State University baseball team won its third straight game with a 11-5 victory over Southern in a Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) game on Friday night at Lee-Hines Field.
Grambling State (20-18 overall, 12-7 SWAC) struck first after a scoreless two innings as the Tigers plated two runs on two hits and took advantage of a Jaguar error in the third to grab a 2-0 lead.
Cameron Shannon opened up the frame with an infield hit and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by
Trevin Bolden.
Ace Felder reached on error to put runners on the corners.
Marshawn Taylor continued his hot streak in the month of April with an RBI single to right to plate Shannon as Felder moved to third. After a walk to
Richard Ortiz loaded the bases, Ramirez brought Felder in on a sacrifice fly to right and
Isaiah Torres ended the inning with a fly out to center as Grambling State took an early lead.
Southern (7-25, 4-12) quickly answered in the bottom of the frame with three runs on three hits to take a 3-2 advantage.
Back came the Tigers in the fifth inning as Felder, Taylor and Ortiz drew back-to-back-to-back walks to open the inning and Ramirez made the Jaguars pay with a grand slam to give Grambling State the lead for good at 6-3.
The Jaguars closed the gap to 6-5 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning, but the Tigers pushed the advantage to 7-5 in the sixth when Felder scored on an Ortiz base hit to center.
Grambling State extended the advantage to 8-5 in the seventh when
Drexler Macaay, who singled with one out, scored when
Nick Wheeler reached on an error.
The Tigers continued to add to the lead with one run in the eighth to push the lead to 9-5 and put the game away with two runs in the ninth to pick up an 11-5 victory.
Inside the Numbers
* Grambling State scored 11 runs on 11 hits, committed three errors and stranded 10 on base.
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Marshawn Taylor led the way offensively by going 3-for-5, with two RBIs and one run scored.
* Rafael Ramirez went 2-for-4, with five runs batted in and one run scored.
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Drexler Macaay also added a pair of hits.
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Ace Felder (four runs scored),
Richard Ortiz,
Cameron Shannon and
Nick Wheeler each recorded one hit.
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Raul Baduel (4-2) picked up the win in six innings of work. He gave up five runs on eight hits, fanned three and walked three.
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Ryan Evans,
Kaelin Woodard and
Daniel Wilson pitched one inning each in relief.
* Southern finished with five runs on eight hits, committed three errors and left 12 on base.
* Javeyan Williams, Jacob Juge and Franky Montesino each had two hits.
* Markaylon Boyd started on the mound and went three innings. He gave up two runs (one earned) on three hits, with two walks and one strikeout.
* Daniel Franklin took the loss in five innings of relief. He was tagged for seven runs (six earned) on six hits, with four walks and three strikeouts.
* Eduardo Velez-Cintron worked an inning in relief.
Up Next
Grambling State continues its three-game SWAC series with rival Southern with a 4 p.m. game on Saturday at Lee-Hines Field.
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