Southern’s baseball team bowed out of the Southwestern Athletic Conference baseball tournament with an 11-8 loss to Alabama State in the loser’s bracket at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta on Thursday, thus ending the Jaguars' season.
The Jaguars (22-29) had fallen into the elimination bracket dropped their first-round game to Florida A&M, the No. 1 seed from the SWAC East Division, giving up three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning of an 8-5 loss in Wednesday’s opener.
Southern outhit Alabama State 16-14 in the elimination game but couldn’t overcome a 10-4 deficit through seven innings. The Jaguars scored two in the eighth and two more in the ninth to make it closer.
Ryan Ollison and Mike Latulas had three hits apiece while Tyeler Hawkins, Logan Sanders and Khyle Radcliffe had two each. Radcliffe homered for the seventh time and Latulas hit his third of the season. Radcliffe knocked in two runs, and Ollison had a two-run double as one of his three hits.
Southern starter Drew Lasseigne gave up eight hits and six runs through three innings, as Alabama State took control with five runs in the third. He struck out five batters and walked none. Jerry Burkett pitched a scoreless fourth inning but gave up one in the fifth and three in the seventh.
In Wednesday’s game, Southern rallied from a 4-1 deficit to tie the game 5-5 on a base hit by Kameron Byrd in the seventh inning. But Florida A&M’s True Fontenot singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, and Janmikell Bastardo followed with a home run to seal the victory for the Rattlers.
Radcliffe led Southern with three hits while Hawkins had two hits and two RBIs.
Radcliffe’s 5-for 8 performance gave him the team’s highest batting average for the season at .386.
Logan Sanders and Marcus Sanders had two hits apiece with Logan Sanders hitting his third homer. Christian Davis took the loss with four innings in relief of starter Ranard Grace.
Cody Williams won the game in relief for FAMU and Grant Harrison got his third save, allowing a walk in the ninth inning but striking out the other three hitters he faced.