BOX SCORE

BATON ROUGE, La. - Despite a standout pitching by starter Michael Listi and reliever Daniel Castillo and a complementing defensive effort, Prairie View A&M lost to Texas Southern in a 2-0 pitchers duel Friday night in the SWAC Tournament Bracket B semi-final game at Lee Hines Field.

The Panthers struggled to get anything going offensively and were held to three hits by TSU starter Frank Cruz, who pitched a complete game shut-out against Prairie View. The Panthers were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position in the potential SWAC Championship game clincher, and it came back to haunt them.

Shortstop James Fontenot put the first hit on the board for Prairie View A&M with a leadoff single in the top of the fourth inning. Brett Valley then advanced him to second with a sacrifice bunt. After Brad Benes drew a walk the Panthers had men on first and second, but a close 5-4-3 double play left them scoreless after four.

TSU got on the board first with a RBI single by Tyler Flanagan in the fourth to score Ray Hernandez from third base to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

Center fielder Colby Hines legged out a triple on a shot to right-center with two outs in the top of the fifth. This left Andre Oliver with the tying run on third, but the junior second baseman struck out swinging and left Hines stranded.

Darryl Johnson led off the sixth with a double to deep left field. The Panthers, however, hit into three-consecutive groundouts to leave runners stranded in scoring position. Listi, who pitched five innings surrendering 11 hits and two runs, was charged with the loss and fell to 3-6. Castillo pitched two scoreless innings for the Panthers with four strikeouts.

The Panthers (26-23) will get the perfect chance to exact revenge on their Texas rival at noon Saturday as they will play in a win-or-go-home semifinal match at Lee-Hines Field on the campus of Southern University.