GAME ONE BOX SCORE
The Prairie View A&M Panthers split a doubleheader against Huston-Tillotson on Tuesday at the baseball complex. The Panthers dropped the opener 6-5 before rebounding with a 5-0 shutout in the finale.
Huston-Tillotson's Howard Limuel drove in the winning run during the top of the 11th as the Rams squeaked past Prairie View 6-5 in the opener.
The Rams struck first with a run in the fourth but fell behind in the bottom frame after PV's Evan Richard logged a two-run homer over the left field wall. The Panthers moved ahead 3-1 after five on Darryl Johnson's RBI single but found themselves tied at 3-all entering the bottom of the sixth as HTU crossed home two runs.
Kyle Bible and Brandon Williams upped PV's margin to 5-3 with RBIs in the bottom of the sixth. However, HTU fought back and knotted the game at 5-all in the seventh. The Panthers had an opportunity to put the game away in the ninth but came up empty-handed despite loading the bases.
Michael Mesa led off the 11th with a double down the left field line and moved to third on a wild pitch from reliever Ben Blackburn. Blackburn forced a pop-up after the pitch but surrendered the winning run as Limuel sprayed the ball to left field.
Blackburn dropped to 1-3 on the season with the loss while Huston-Tillotson's Vincent Ramirez improved to 5-5. Richard finished the game with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate which included a pair of RBIs and runs scored.
In game two, Sal Hernandez drove in two RBIs while three pitchers combined to shutout Huston-Tillotson 5-0.
Sophomore shortstop Andre Oliver scored the game's first run as he forced a balk call in the first inning. Hernandez increased the lead to 2-0 in the second after stealing home and 3-0 in the third by drawing a bases loaded walk. Prairie View returned to the scoreboard in the sixth as senior Rafael Perez began the inning with a leadoff double. Perez stole home several batters later for a 4-0 advantage while Hernandez capped off the inning with a sacrifice fly for the game's final run.
Kellen Simmons upped his record to 2-3 after striking out two in four innings of action. The freshmen tandem of Travis Tipps and Chuck Ater relieved Simmons and combined to strikeout three in three innings of action.
The Panthers return to action on Saturday as they'll face Texas Southern to begin round two of SWAC play. Saturday's doubleheader has been moved to the MLB Academy at Sylvester Turner Park in Houston and will begin at noon as the academy celebrates its first anniversary. On Sunday, the series shifts back to Prairie View and will begin at 1 p.m.
