PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – Grambling State jumped out to a 5-0 lead over the first three innings Sunday and then held off a late Prairie View A&M rally in a 5-4 win over the Panthers.
 
The Panthers loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, but relief pitcher Jaiden France and the Tigers stopped the rally with a double play and a very close groundout to the shortstop to preserve the victory.
 
The Tigers (4-14) improved to 2-4 in Southwestern Athletic Conference West Division play with the series win over Prairie View A&M. The Panthers (7-11) fell to 4-4 in divisional games.
 
Dion Holbrook pitched six and one-thirds innings for Grambling, allowing three earned runs and scattering four hits en route to the win. France pitched the remainder of the game and picked up his first save of the season.
 
Charles Philpott pitched the first six innings for Prairie View A&M, giving up three earned runs of the five Grambling scored. Philpott calmed down after a rough third inning, allowing only two baserunners over the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. He struck out seven batters while walking five and scattering only three hits.
 
Joseph Mack may have emerged as another reliable arm in head coach Waskyla Cullivan's bullpen. In only his third appearance of the season, Mack struck out two batters and allowed only one hit over three innings. He hit one batter and didn't issue a walk during his three innings of work.
 
The Panthers were hitless until the sixth inning, when Walter Wells led off with a clean double to left-centerfield. The double stretched Wells' hit streak to 12 consecutive games; has reached base safely in all 18 of Prairie View A&M's contests this year.
 
Following the Wells double, Anthony Fernandez drew a walk, and then both runners moved up with Grant Dougherty's groundout. Carson Lee followed, and was also ruled out on a groundout that aroused controversy from the Prairie View A&M crowd. Still, Lee was credited with the RBI when Wells scored. After Kevin Macias walked, Connor Wrye's RBI single to score Fernandez capped the sixth-inning rally.
 
Fernandez and Dougherty knocked RBIs in the bottom of the seventh inning to score Josh Jefferson and Wells, respectively, to cut Grambling's lead to 5-4.
 
The Panthers return to action Tuesday when they make the short drive to College Station to face undefeated Texas A&M (20-0). The Aggies were ranked seventh in the latest poll from USA Today.
 
First pitch between the Aggies and Panthers is scheduled for 6 p.m.