HOUSTON – Prairie View A&M's woes in the annual Major League Baseball Invitational continued as Texas Southern cruised to a 9-0 win on Saturday at Minute Maid Park.

TSU's Sebastian Stragell tripled to open the top of the second and scored the game's first run one batter later on Andrew Garza's RBI single down the third base line.  With two outs in the third, TSU's Ellis Stephney was hit by a pitch and stole second.  Shortly thereafter, the Tigers claimed a 2-0 margin as Demario Thibodeaux drove in Stephney following a hard-hit RBI single which bounced off third baseman Brad Benes' glove.

With two outs and a runner on in the top of the fifth, Panther starter Stef Hernandez ran into trouble as he issued back-to-back walks to load the bases.  Garza once again was a thorn in Hernandez's side as he drove in two runs following a shot up the middle for a 4-0 margin.  While attempting to take an extra base, PV catcher Trey Price attempted to throw Garza out but on the throw, TSU's Stargell saw an opportunity to score from third and did just that as the throw back home was late en route to a 5-0 TSU lead.  As a result, PV head coach Waskyla Cullivan pulled Hernandez and inserted reliever AJ Helms with a runner on second.  Despite the switch, the scoring didn't stop as TSU's Marquis Curry logged a first-pitch RBI single which brought home Garza for a 6-0 advantage.

While attempting to throw out Thibodeaux at first following a pop out foul to the third baseman, Prairie View A&M's deficit grew to 7-0 in the seventh as Stephney scored from third during the throw.  The Tigers added two more runs in the ninth following a bases loaded walk and a sacrifice fly.

The Panthers struggled to get anything going offensively against TSU starting pitcher Robert Pearson (1-1) as he held them to only two hits in seven and one-third innings of action.  Prairie View A&M could only manage three hits the entire game as TSU combined to use three pitchers. 

Shortstop Walter Wells, Benes and first baseman Dominiq Harris recorded hits for the Panthers.  Hernandez fell to 1-1 on the season after striking out three and allowing six runs in four and two-thirds innings of action. 

The 2013 MLB Urban Invitational concludes tomorrow as the Panthers will face Southern at 3:30 p.m. in Houston's Minute Maid Park.  The contest will be broadcast online on the OpenMic Broadcast Network.