GAME ONE BOX

GAME TWO BOX

With an opportunity to move into second place on the line, the Prairie View A&M Panthers took full advantage as they swept Grambling State 17-3 and 5-4 in a doubleheader on Saturday in Prairie View, Texas.

Brandon Williams drove in five RBIs as the Prairie View A&M offense recorded 12 hits en route to run-ruling Grambling State 17-3 in the opener.

Prairie View A&M (23-17, 13-10 SWAC) exploded for an early lead in the first by taking advantage of bad pitching as four of the first five batters drew walks. Left fielder Rafael Perez recorded a double to the center field wall which scored the first two runs for PV followed by a two-RBI single down the middle from Brandon Williams for a 4-0 lead.  The Panthers would score one more run before the side retired as Sal Hernandez doubled in Williams for a 5-0 advantage.

Grambling State's Richard Bautista recorded a pair of sacrifice flies in the second and fourth innings for a 5-2 margin.  After two scoreless innings, the Panthers returned to the scoreboard in a big way as they nearly matched their first-inning production by scoring four runs on two hits while pushing the margin to 9-2 after four innings.

The Panthers would put the game out of reach in the fifth inning with an eight-run surge behind six hits as Hernandez, James Fontenot, Giovanni Angel, Kyle Bible and Rodriguez each recorded a hit during the flurry en route to a 17-3 cushion.  As a result, the Panthers triggered the 10-run rule for the second straight weekend and third time during the second half of SWAC play as the contest was stopped in the seventh.

Junior pitcher Michael Listi went the distance as he recorded six strikeouts in seven innings of action.  With the win, Listi advanced to 5-3 on the season while Rodriguez, Perez, Williams and Hernandez all had a pair of hits.

Sal Hernandez singled home the go-ahead run in the sixth as the Panthers held on for the sweep following a 5-4 win over Grambling State in game two.

Junior catcher Evan Richard hit a one-out triple in the first and scored the game's first run after Giovanni Angel's RBI single.  The contest remained scoreless until the fourth as Grambling tied the contest at 1-1 after Hector Mejias' RBI single.  Two innings later, the Tigers moved ahead 2-1 on Mejias' second RBI single of the afternoon as Adrian Turner rounded the bases.

Down a run, the Panthers began to have success against Tiger starter Matt Mitchell as Angel and designated hitter Sterling Smith opened the sixth with back-to-back singles.  Rafael Perez tied the game at 2-all with an RBI single and Hernandez broke the tie as his two-out RBI single gave PV a 3-2 advantage.

The Panthers added two insurance runs in the eighth as both Brandon Williams and Hernandez recorded sacrifice RBIs for a 5-2 margin.  Grambling wouldn't go away though as Mejias homered in the ninth to close within two runs followed by Richard Bautista's RBI single as they trailed 5-4.  However, closer Daniel Castillo picked up the save as he forced leadoff batter Chris Wolfe to lineout for the game's final out.

Game two belonged to the pitchers with a combined total of 21 strikeouts.  PV's Derrick Mitchell improved to 6-3 on the season as the junior struck out 11 in 8.2 innings of action.  Angel had a solid game as he finished 3-for-3 with an RBI.

With second place on the line, the Panthers return to the field on Sunday as they host Grambling State in a single game at noon.