GAME 1 BOX SCORE

GAME 2 BOX SCORE

Prairie View A&M head coach Waskyla Cullivan said before Monday's rivalry double-header against Texas Southern that he and his team wanted to prove how much they had improved since their opening-weekend loss to the Tigers in the MLB Urban Invitational.

Mission accomplished. The Panthers won Game 1 of the double-header 6-4 and then run-ruled Texas Southern 11-1 through eight innings in Game 2, improving to 7-7 and kicking off their SWAC season a perfect 2-0.

“It was big because it was a rivalry game,” Cullivan said. “Fans, alums and boosters want those games. With (TSU coach Michael Robertson) being my mentor, it feels good to have consecutive years where we were able to play well and beat them.”

In Game 1, Prairie View starter Michael Listi picked up his first win of the season. After a rough second-inning in which the Panthers surrendered three runs, Listi settled down and threw three scoreless innings before giving up a run in the sixth.

Listi got run support from his team to help him pick up the win as Prairie View also put together a three-run second inning and scored one run in the third, fourth and sixth to give Listi a 6-4 advantage before he was relieved by Daniel Castillo in the seventh. Cullivan was glad to see his No. 1 get in the win column.

“He's been our ace for two years now, and we haven't been playing good defense behind him or scoring runs for him,” Cullivan said. “We got complacent because he did so well for us last year. It was good we had some fight in the early innings and we gave Michael some room.”

The Game 2 performances of starter Derrick Mitchell (4 hits, 1 run, 0 earned in six innings pitched) and reliever Stef Hernandez (two hitless innings and three Ks) were almost overshadowed by the hot bats of the Panthers' hitters.

Prairie View had 15 hits in their 11-1 win, which was highlighted by a four-run fifth inning. Brad Benes (3-for4, 1 RBI, 2 runs), Dominique Harris (2-for-5, 2 RBIs, 2 Runs) and Andre Oliver (2-for-4, 2 RBIs) led the way offensively for the Panthers.

“We were able to put the ball in play,” Cullivan said. “We didn't have a lot of strikeouts. Then we had a lot of clutch RBI hits with runners in scoring position, and we were knocking them all in.”

The Panthers will play host to Huston-Tillotson in a double-header beginning at 1 p.m. on Tuesday at the Panther Baseball Field.