GRAMBLING, La. |The Grambling State University baseball team opened play in the 2025 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Tournament with a dominating 13-6 win over No. 4 seed Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Wednesday night at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala. 
 
GSU (24-26) rattled off 15 hits including a pair on home runs by Chenar Brown and Aries Gardner.  Brown led the Tigers at the plate going 3-for-4 with four RBI.
 
Grambling State's starting pitcher Mason Martinez put forth a strong performance, limiting UAPB (19-33) to two runs (one earned) on five hits with four strikeouts in 5.0 innings of work. 
 
Payton Allen picked up his first save of the season, going 4.0 innings and surrendering four runs on seven hits with two Ks. 
 
Grambling State got the scoring started quickly. After Nyan Hayes reached base on a leadoff single in the first inning, Cameron Hill immediate brought him home on an RBI-double to the left center field wall. Two batters later, Brown extended GSU's lead to 3-0 with a two-run homer to left field. 
 
UAPB pushed across a run in the bottom of the frame to set the score a 3-1. 
 
With the bases loaded in the second, Hill picked up his second RBI of the day on a sacrifice fly to right field, extended the cushion to 4-1 The Tigers were able to push across one run in the frame. 
 
Leading 4-2 in the top of the fourth, another SAC fly by Hill grew the Tigers' lead to 5-2. Back-to-back two-out RBI singles by Brown and Chris Marcellus push GSU's advantage to 7-2. Gardner broke the game open with a three-run home run to right centerfield gave Grambling State a commanding 10-2 lead. 
 
With the Tigers ahead 10-3 in the top of the eighth, Brown drove in his fourth run of the contest with an RBI single through the left side of the infield. 
 
The Golden Lions scored three runs in the bottom of the inning, trimming GSU's advantage to 11-6
 
In the top of the ninth, and runners on second and third, Terry Burrell III poked a two-RBI double through the right side to extend the lead to 13-6. 
 
UAPB starter Kenney Fabian (6-7) was charged with the loss after giving up nine runs on nine hits in 3.2 innings. 
 
Up Next
No. 5 seed Grambling State faces No. 2 seed Florida A&M in a winner's bracket showdown on Thursday evening at Rickwood Field. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will be streamed on the SWAC Digital Network (YouTube). 
 
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