BOX SCORE Throughout the month of July, pvpanthers.com took a look back at some of the best contests and meets for each of Prairie View A&M's 18 sports. The series concludes Friday with a look back to the baseball team's 5-4 win over defending SWAC champion Texas Southern, giving the Panthers an early-season road series win over the Tigers.
 
Saturday, March 6
 
HOUSTON – The Prairie View A&M Panthers stunned the Southwestern Athletic Conference's defending champion Sunday as they defeated Texas Southern 5-4 to take two out of three of in the weekend series.
 
Marlan Chatman's pinch-hit double in the top of the eighth inning to score Nick Gurka and Cody Den Beste ended up giving the Panthers (4-7, 2-1 SWAC) valuable insurance runs as they stanched TSU rallies in the eighth and ninth innings.
 
Darrien Williams made his second start on the mound for the Panthers and allowed one earned run and scattered four hits over six innings to improve to 2-0 on the season. He walked six batters (including one with the bases loaded), but also struck out three and received some stellar defensive play behind him.
 
Seth Oliver pitched seven and one-thirds innings for the Tigers (4-8, 1-2 SWAC), striking out seven batters. He walked four batters and scattered five hits while giving up four earned runs.
 
PVAMU's Angel Avalos (pictured) went 3-for-4 and knocked a two-run home run – his first of the season – to open the scoring in the third inning. He also scored a run in the top of the sixth inning; Josh Wells was denied credit for the RBI on Avalos' second run when he was ruled out on a close all to complete a TSU double play.
 
The Panthers benefitted from solid defense as well as some plain good fortune Sunday. With TSU runners on first and third and no outs in the bottom of the fifth, Williams got Christian Sanchez to swing and miss at strike three. Sanchez' swing also interfered with catcher Jaron Hicks' attempt to prevent a stolen base, so with Sanchez already out on the play, Kamren Dukes was ruled out before he could steal second. TSU's Sydney Daley was also ordered back to third base, and two batters later Joel Rosario flew out to center, where Gurka overcame a strong wind to get the out.
 
Jordan Johnson came into pitch for the Panthers in the bottom of the seventh, and hit the leadoff hitter Dukes. He retired the next two hitters, and with Dukes at third, Rosario was again robbed off an RBI, this time when Joseph Mack made a great running catch at the right field wall to end the inning.
 
Richie Alamo, the thorn in the Panthers' collective side Sunday as he went 3-for-3, knocked an RBI triple in the bottom of the eighth and later scored to highlight a three-run inning and cut the PVAMU lead to 5-4. Johnson, however, snuffed the rally with Dukes on third base when he got pinch hitter Olajide Oloruntimilehin to strike out swinging.
 
With Edward Robledo on the mound in the bottom of the ninth, Avalos also used his glove for heroics, fielding a hard hit ball from Rosario to get the out, and then relaying a throw to shortstop Kevin Macias who was able to tag Jose Cabreja for the less common 3-6 double play. Two batters later, Macias' range allowed him to rob Blake Hicks of a single and get a throw to Brashad Jones to get the lead runner and give the Panthers the win.
 
Johnson struck out three batters in two innings of relief, while Robledo picked up his second save in as many days. Cody Den Beste hit two singles and had a stolen base. Jaron Hicks also had a hit for the Panthers.