PHOTO: The Prairie View A&M Panthers honored its six seniors who completed their eligibility in 2016. From left: Alex Richardson, Kevin Lahaie, Joseph Mack, David Drake, Angel Avalos, Edward Robledo.
 
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – Grambling State completed a three-game sweep of Prairie View A&M in the Panthers' final home game of the season Saturday as the Tigers claimed a 13-3 victory.
 
Tray Bell hit two home runs for the visitors as Grambling State (22-20) increased its lead to a full game over second-place Arkansas–Pine Bluff in the Southwestern Athletic Conference's West Division with a 15-5 league record.
 
Creighton Hoover picked up his second win in two days for the Tigers, allowing three earned runs over five and one-thirds innings while scattering five hits and striking out two. After picking up a win relief Friday, the senior righthander allowed only baserunner through his four innings and didn't cede a hit until Joe Mack led off the fifth inning with a double.
 
Darrien Williams absorbed the loss for the Panthers (10-28, 5-18 SWAC), giving up nine runs – only five of them earned – and striking out four batters over seven innings of work.
 
The Tigers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning when Nicholas Wheeler singled home Bell from third base. Bell led off the inning with a walk, and then moved to second when one of the base umpires called Williams for a balk and nullified what would have been a three-pitch swinging strikeout of catcher Johan Mojica.
 
Mojica's extra time at the plate resulted in a deep flyout to move Bell to third base. But after Wheeler's RBI single, the Panthers got out of the inning with a double play that started with Malcom Boyce's grounder to shortstop Kevin Macias, who tagged second base before throwing to Angel Avalos to complete the play.
 
Grambling State scored four more in the third inning, starting with a three-run home run from Larry Barraza – his third blast over the final two games of the series. Two batters later Bell hit his first home run of the afternoon.
 
Trailing 6-0 in the bottom of the fifth, the Panthers rallied for three to cut the visitors' lead in half. Mack's leadoff double down the rightfield line was PVAMU's first hit of the game, which was then followed by an infield single from David Drake. Two batters later, Thi Mai put the home team on the board with a sacrifice fly that scored Mack from third.
 
Mai's sacrifice fly was the first of three consecutive at-bats that produced runs for the Panthers. Josh Jefferson followed with a single up the middle to score Drake, and then he scored on Nick Gurka's single after having moved to second base on the throw attempting to catch Drake at home.
 
The Panthers were unable to cut into the Grambling lead any further while the Tigers scored seven unanswered runs over the game's final three innings. A bases-loaded double by Wesley Drain accounted for three runs in four-run ninth inning; Drain had four RBIs in Saturday's game.
 
Mack and Drake each knocked two hits for the Panthers.
 
While the game was the final home Prairie View A&M contest of the 2015-16 academic year for any sport, the Panthers still have five games remaining on their schedule. The team returns to action Tuesday when they visit the University of Texas for a 6 p.m. game that will be aired on the Longhorn Network.
 
Following the game in Austin, the Panthers will visit the University of Houston on Wednesday for a makeup contest of a game that was rained out in March. PVAMU will conclude its regular season next weekend with a three-game series at Oklahoma State.