The Southern baseball team is looking for one last push toward the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament with two weeks remaining and a trip to Arkansas-Pine Bluff this weekend.
The Jaguars (21-24, 13-10 SWAC) are in fourth place it he SWAC West standings, a half-game behind Prairie View (13-8) with Texas Southern (15-5) and Grambling (16-6) in the top two spots.
The Jaguars play UAPB at 3 p.m. Friday at the Torii Hunter Baseball Complex with Saturday game at 2 p.m. and the series finale at 1 p.m. Sunday.
The Jaguars missed a chance to grab third place with a 13-11 loss to Alcorn State on Monday, a game in which they led 11-5. Southern lost at McNeese State 14-4 on Tuesday.
“We had to get over that Monday loss quickly to move on to that Tuesday game,” Southern coach Chris Crenshaw said. “We got off to a bad start, scored some runs in the middle and they scored a few at the end to put us away. If (freshman starting pitcher) Genesis (Prosper) had gotten off to a better start, the game would have been different.
“At the plate we have to continue making adjustments and sticking to the approach,” Crenshaw said.
Prosper, who threw three shutout innings the week before at Nicholls State, gave up eight earned runs, six hits and five walks in two innings. Khyle Radcliffe and Mike Latulas hit home runs for Southern. Radcliffe had two hits, including a double, and two RBIs. Logan Sanders also had a run-scoring single for Southern.
Southern center fielder Tyeler Hawkins leads third Southern with a .368 batting average, eight homers, and 41 RBIs. Infielder KJ White is batting .362 and Radcliffe .349.
Southern’s starters for the first two games will be Ranard Grace, who has won his past three conference starts, and Drew Lasseigne, who had career highs of seven innings and nine strikeouts in a 10-1 win against Alcorn State on Sunday.
Crenshaw said Southern will likely be without starting second baseman Jalon Mack against this weekend. Mack injured his wrist sliding into second base against Nicholls State and has sat out the four games since.
UAPB (15-30, 5-17) took two of three from Southern in Baton Rouge but has lost 10 of 11 conference games since then. The Golden Lions were the top hitting team in the league when they faced Southern but have dropped to fourth at a .297 team batting average.
Lions’ catcher Edwin Delacruz is still the league’s top hitter with a .439 batting average and two homers with 33 RBI. He’s had only two hits in his past four games. UAPB shortstop Jaylen Nauden is batting .383.
UAPB’s top two pitchers are P Jaeden Willis with a 3-4 record and 6.33 earned run average and Jacob Ehling (6.35 3-5).