BOX SCORE GAME 1
BOX SCORE GAME 2

The Panthers finally got their offense running efficiently and early in a 15-3 win over Wiley College on Sunday afternoon, but it took what head coach Waskyla Cullivan referred to as a wake up call in a 3-2 loss in the first game of the double-header to get a fire started under the Prairie View A&M bats.

“We had been starting off slow and picking it up eventually,” Cullivan said. “It had been working, but if you keep playing that type of ball its going to bite you in the butt. It was something that needed to happen. In the second game I got on them about it, and we scored early.”

Cullivan watched his team perform three comebacks in its previous five games to pick up wins. He was satisfied with the wins but didn't like the slow offensive starts his team had been getting off to.

In the the first game of the double-header, which was seven innings, the Panthers trailed 3-0 and scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to get within striking distance Wiley College.

In the bottom of the seventh, designated hitter Michael Long had the bases loaded with a full count to either tie or take the lead, but the Panthers' batter struck out looking to end the game. A team that had played with fire and escaped unharmed three of its last five games finally got burned.

“If I have to take a loss in the first game an get them to throw the first punch in the next game and be aggressive then I don't mind going out like that,” Cullivan said. “But we can't expect to keep getting off to slow starts and pick up wins in the SWAC.”

In Game 2, the Prairie View A&M set the pace with a four-run first inning, which was highlighted by a two-RBI double by Evan Richard. Richard finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs scored. First baseman Sterling Smith and second baseman Andre Oliver both finished with three RBIs.

The Panthers went on to score 15 runs off of 12 hit and capitalized off of three Wiley College Errors. Derrick Mitchell, who pitched four innings of scoreless baseball, improved to 2-1.

The Panthers have a tough task ahead of them before kicking off their conference schedule against Texas Southern on Saturday, March 10 with a double header.

Prairie View A&M will take on Texas A&M in College Station at 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday in a non-conference test. The Panthers are 5-6 heading into a hostile environment in Blue Bell Park to face an 11-1 Aggies team. Righty Steven Lunsford (3.42 ERA) will take on Aggies right-handed pitcher Corey Ray (1-0, 1.00 ERA).