BATON ROUGE, La. | Nick Wheeler belted his first two homers of the season, including a grand slam, but it wasn't enough as the Grambling State University baseball team dropped Game 2 of a Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) series against Southern University, 15-13, on Saturday afternoon at Lee-Hines Stadium.
How It Happened
Southern (13-9 overall, 7-1 SWAC) opened the scoring with one run in the bottom of the first inning.
Grambling State (10-12, 7-4) took a 2-1 advantage with a pair of runs in the top of the second.
Rafael Ramirez III walked and advanced a base on a Wheeler single.
Trevin Bolden walked to load the bases. With two outs,
Isaiah Torres singled to center to score Ramirez and Wheeler, giving the Tigers the one-run lead.
The Jaguars answered in the bottom of the frame with three runs to grab a 4-2 advantage.
Back came the Tigers as Wheeler belted the first of his two home runs as Grambling State took a 5-4 lead in the third.
Michael Sookdeo led off the frame with a double and
Garrett Smith got on base with a base hit. Wheeler stepped to the plated and belted a three-run homer as GSU grabbed the slim lead.
Southern responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning and took a 7-5 lead into the fourth.
Grambling State quickly responded in the top of the fourth with five runs.
Torres singled, Sookdeo walked and
Garrett Smith was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Ramirez followed with a base hit to score Torres and with two outs, Wheeler smacked a grand slam to give the Tigers a 10-7 advantage.
The Jaguars cut the deficit to 10-8 with a run in the bottom of the frame.
Grambling State plated one run in the fifth, but was matched by a run by Southern in the sixth. The Tigers added one run in the seventh, but the Jaguars answered with a three-run inning to tie the game at 12.
Southern exploded for a three-run eighth inning to take a 15-12 lead into the ninth. Grambling State plated one run in the final inning, but could not complete the comeback.
Inside the Numbers
> Grambling State finished with 13 runs on 13 hits, committed four errors and left 10 on base
>
Isaiah Torres led the Tigers at the plate by going 4-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored
>
Nick Wheeler went 3-for-5, with a team-high seven RBIs and three runs scored
>
Garrett Smith went 2-for-4, with two runs scored and one RBI
>
Ace Felder,
Trevin Bolden,
Michael Sookdeo and Rafael Ramirez III each had one hit
>
Jason Alvarez started on the hill for the Tigers and lasted 2.2 innings. He surrendered seven runs (four earned) on six hits, with five walks and one strikeout
>
Andy Escano and
Ryan Evans (0-2) pitched in relief
> Southern finished with 15 runs on 14 hits, committed a pair of errors and stranded 12 on base
> David Hunter led the Jaguars at the plate by going 4-for-5 with five RBIs and two runs scored
> Justin Freeman started for Southern and went 2.0 innings. He gave up two runs on two hits, walked five and struck out a pair
> Markaylon Boyd, Larry Barabino, John Guienze, Jr. and Connor Whalen (3-0) worked in relief.
Up Next
Grambling State concludes its three-game SWAC series against Southern on Sunday. First pitch from Lee-Hines Stadium is set for 1 p.m.
Follow Grambling State Athletics
For complete coverage of Grambling State athletics, please follow the Tigers on social media at @GSU_Tigers (Twitter), /gramblingstateathletics (Facebook), @gramblingathletics01 (Instagram) or visit the official home of Grambling State Athletics at gsutigers.com.
