By: Curtis Ford
Box Score NATCHITOCHES, La. | The Grambling State University baseball team suffered a 16-8 set back at the hands of Northwestern State on Tuesday night at Brown-Stroud Field.
The Tigers found themselves trailing by 11 runs after four innings, used a six-run rally in the fifth inning to cut NSU's lead in half. But the GSU (16-21) couldn't pull themselves out of the hole it had dug itself in.
Charles Jackson (1-1) was charged with the loss after surrendering five runs on three hits and five walks in 2.0 innings of work. He struck out two batters. As a unit, the Grambling State pitching staff struggled with consistency, issuing 13 walks.
Offensively, GSU was strong at the plate once again. The Tigers racked up 13 hits with five batters notching multi-hit games.
Jose Vargas led the way going 3-for-3 with two RBI.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Trailing 2-0 in the top of the second, Demarckus Smiley put GSU on the board with an RBI single to left field. Vargas' sacrifice fly tied the game 2-2.
- Northwestern State regained the lead after scoring three runs in the bottom of the frame to go up 5-2. NSU tried to put the game out of reach in the top of the fourth, tacking on eight runs and ballooning its lead to 13-2.
- Grambling State shook out of its early funk in the top of the fifth inning. After quickly loading the bases to open the frame, Kyle Walker's sacrifice fly scored GSU's third run of the game. Ashton Inman poked an RBI single through the right side of the infield to cut the deficit to single digits.
- Trevor Hatton pulled the Tigers even closer with a two-RBI triple. RBI singles by Julian Murphy and Vargas cut NSU's advantage to 13-8 heading into the bottom of the fifth.
- That would be as close as GSU would get to Northwestern State, however. The Demons held the Tigers scoreless the rest of way while adding three runs to their tally.
UP NEXT
Grambling State returns home to face Texas Southern in a battle between the top two teams in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) West Division. The series is set to begin on Friday with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. at Wilbert Ellis Field.
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