BOX SCORE
HOUSTON - A shaky fourth inning by the Panthers resulted in a 4-3 loss at Houston Baptist on Tuesday afternoon in Houston. Prairie View A&M gave up each of its four runs in the fourth and couldn't claw back from its early deficit.

The Panthers got its offense started in the top of the fourth thanks to a single by senior outfielder Brett Valley to right field. Senior third baseman Brad Benes then walked to put runners on first and second and junior first baseman Dominiq Harris laid down a sacrifice bunt and put both runners in scoring position. 

Designated hitter Greg Salcido singled to right center to drive Valley and then advance Benes to third. With runners on the corners, left fielder Jeff Sealy doubled down the left field line to score Benes and give the Panthers a 2-0 lead. 

HBU responded in the bottom of the fourth by putting up four runs (all earned) against junior pitcher Chuck Ater to take a 4-2 lead. In the fifth Dominic Harris narrowed the gap. With runners on second and third, he sent a sacrifice fly to drive in Walter Wells and put the score at 4-3.

Ater, who dropped to 0-1 on the season, was relieved by senior right-hander Stephen Lunsford after four innings of work. Ater surrendered four hits and four runs. Lunsford came in and pitched four hitless innings for Prairie View A&M coach Waskyla Cullivan. He walked just one batter and had two strikeouts to give the Panthers a chance to forge a comeback late in the game. However, the Prairie View A&M bats didn't come through with timely hits.

Offensively for the Panthers, Walter Wells went 2-for-5 with one run scored, while Salcido and Sealy both hit 1-for-4 with an RBI each. Up next for the Panthers is Alabama State in the MLB Urban Invitational at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22 at Minute Maid Park in Houston.