PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – The Prairie View A&M Panthers evened their weekend series with Texas Southern by trouncing the visiting Tigers 12-2 in eight innings Saturday.
 
PVAMU's Charles Philpott (pictured) and Cody Den Beste claimed the spotlight for the Panthers (9-18), who have taken three out of five games from TSU this season and improved to 4-9 in Southwestern Athletic Conference play.
 
Philpott, a junior pitcher from Missouri City, Texas (Hightower), struck out a career-high 12 batters and pitched all eight innings played Saturday to pick up his first win of the season and his first-ever complete-game victory in a PVAMU uniform.
 
In improving to 1-4 on the season, Philpott allowed only two hits – both during TSU's two-run third inning – and walked only four batters. He recorded four 1-2-3 innings Saturday, and struck out the side in the second and seventh innings.
 
Philpott proved to be particularly frustrating to Texas Southern catcher Blake Hicks. The Tigers' leading hitter, Hicks entered the game with a .364 batting average and fewer strikeouts than any other TSU regular, but struck out in all three of his plate appearances Saturday.
 
At the plate, Den Beste (Wilmington, Calif./Torrance) led the Panther attack by going 5-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored. The junior nearly hit for the cycle, as he lacked the elusive triple, but even that seemed within reach for the fleet-footed Den Beste, who has knocked three triples in his previous two games.
 
Den Beste opened the scoring for the Panthers with a two-run home run in the bottom of the second inning to give the home team a 2-0 lead. He also hit a double and three singles, one of them on bunt down the first base line where his speed allowed him to avoid a tag from first baseman Joel Rosario-Alecia in the seventh inning.
 
His actions were also responsible for the last two runs which gave the Panthers the walkoff victory. With runners on second third, Den Beste hit a line drive that off TSU second baseman Ryan Lazo's glove. Darrien Williams scored from third to stretch the PVAMU lead to 11-2, and when Den Beste veered too far past first base on the play, his decision to extend TSU's rundown allowed Angel Avalos to score the 12th run which gave the Panthers the early victory due to the 10-run "mercy" rule.
 
Since going 0-for-3 in the second game at Grambling State on March 26, Den Beste has hit in five consecutive games, and batted .609 (14 of 23) during that time. He has raised his season batting average to .323, up nearly 100 points from .229 when the streak began at Houston Baptist last week.
 
Kevin Macias and Darrien Williams each recorded two hits for the Panthers. Macias was credited with what turned out to be the game-winning RBI when he hit a two-RBI single to score Brashad Jones and Kaylor Lewis during PVAMU's four-run second inning.
 
The Panthers stretched their lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the third when Den Beste, Thi Mai, and Joseph Mack knocked consecutive two-out singles, with Den Beste scoring on Mack's hit. One inning later, Avalos and Shannon Washington knocked consecutive doubles to score Macias and Avalos, respectively and push the Panther lead to 7-2.
 
Leading 8-2 going into the bottom of the eighth, the Panthers saw their first four batters reach base, starting with Jones knocking a double to left-center. Macias followed with a single and then went to third when Williams hit an RBI double that scored Jones. Avalos then walked to load the bases.
 
Washington's bases-loaded at-bat was ruled an infield fly, but his pop-up was hit deep enough to turn into a sacrifice fly. Macias scored on the play and Williams and Avalos moved to third and second, respectively, setting up Den Beste's walkoff.
 
TSU's Seth Oliver took the loss for the Tigers, giving up eight runs (seven earned) while walking six and striking out six over innings. Aaron McIntyre pitched the final two and two-thirds innings, giving up four runs. Gerrick Jimenez and Chris Scroggins knocked TSU's two RBIs in consecutive third-inning at-bats.
 
The Panthers and Tigers conclude their series Sunday at 1 p.m.