BATON ROUGE, La. | The Grambling State baseball team grabbed a late lead, but wasn't able to hold it, falling 6-5 in 11 innings to Southern on Friday night at Lee-Hines Stadium.
GSU (16-20, 11-4 SWAC) homered three time on Friday, including a go-ahead solo shot from Keylon Mack in the 11th inning, but surrendered three runs in the bottom of the frame.
The Tigers registered nine hits as a team, but struck out 18 times. GSU struggled to figure out Southern starter Nicholas Wilson, only managing to one run on three hits in seven innings. He fanned 13 Tiger batters.
Cameron Bufford got GSU started on a string not with a solo homer in the top of the fsecond, his ninth of the year, to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
Southern (13-19, 8-5) tied the game in the fourth, then took a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning.
Grambling State battled back in the eighth, tying the game at 3-3. Keanu Jacobs-Guishard smoked a solo homer to make it 3-2, the Nasir Frederick came through with a clutch single RBI single to third base.
In the 11th inning, Mack's home run put GSU back in front 4-3. Later in the inning, Julian Murphy laced an RBI double to centerfield, giving GSU a two-run cushion, 5-3.
However, the Jaguars answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning. SU scored the walk-off run on a wild pitch by reliever Javier Martinez (0-3).
Lorenzo Petersen started the game for GSU, woking 5.1 innings, surrendering three runs, two earned, on six hits. Her also struck out four and walked four.
Up Next
Grambling State looks to bounce back in game two of its series versus Southern when the two square off for the second game of the series. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.
FOLLOW GRAMBLING STATE ATHLETICS
For complete coverage of Grambling State athletics, please follow the Tigers on social media at @GSU_Tigers (Twitter), /GramblingStateTigers1901 (Facebook), @gramblingathletics (Instagram) or visit the official home of Grambling State Athletics at gsutigers.com.
