Baseball Splits Doubleheader Against Prairie View A&M

BEAUMONT, Texas – Texas Southern split a doubleheader against Prairie View A&M at Vincent-Beck Stadium on Friday.
 
PVAMU 8, TSU 7
TSU starter Abraham Deleon made history with his 100^th strikeout for the season but a five-run eighth by the Panthers was the difference in an 8-7 loss.
 
TSU jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the second inning after RBIs from Michael Goudeau, CJ Castillo and Daalen Adderley. The lead grew to 4-0 after the top of the fourth on Adderley’s RBI single to score Shannon Martin.
 
The Panthers had three doubles with two outs in the bottom half to cut the deficit to 4-2. They added another RBI double to draw within 4-3 in the fifth but Ben Hovda returned the Tigers back to the board after an RBI double in the seventh to lead 5-3.
 
Abraham Deleon, who became the first Tiger since 2006 to surpass 100 strikeouts in a season during the modern era with a strikeout in the bottom of the sixth, had a rough start in the eighth. PVAMU led the inning off with three singles followed by a bases loaded walk, hit by pitch, sac fly and RBI single to move ahead 7-5 as Deleon was replaced by reliever Josiah Castro. PVAMU would score one more to lead 8-5.
 
In typical TSU-PVAMU fashion, no lead is safe as TSU loaded the bases in the ninth with no outs to force a pitching change. PVAMU’s Devin Aguado forced a strikeout but Jeffry Mercado answered with an RBI single followed by Michael Goudeau’s fielder’s choice RBI as TSU trailed 8-7. However, Aguado forced a game-ending strikeout with two runners on to end the game.
 
Adderley went 3-for-5 with two RBI followed by a 3-for-4 outing from Roderick Coffee. Goudeau also added two hits and two RBI. Deleon (6-2) dropped only his second contest of the season as he struck out eight.
 
TSU 4, PVAMU 2
Roderick Coffee and Alexander Olivo recorded RBI’s in the top of the ninth as TSU split the doubleheader after a 4-2 win.
 
Jeffry Mercado led the second off with a hit by pitch and moved to second on Ben Hovda’s single. A sac bunt by Victor Molina moved both runners to scoring position and CJ Castillo broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.
 
The scoring would cease for both teams until the seventh as PVAMU led the inning off with a single, walk and single to load the bases. The Panthers hit an RBI groundout for a 2-1 margin but TSU walked another bater to load the bases. TSU went into its bullpen as Justyn Valdez entered in place of Mateo Lamas and the move paid off as Valdez forced an inning-ending double play.
 
After ending the bottom of the eighth with another double play, TSU dug deep in the ninth as Daalen Adderley drew a one out walk and stole second. Alexander Olivo broke the tie with an RBI double followed by Gabe Vasquez’s walk. PVAMU went into its bullpen but Coffee came up big with an RBI single for a 4-2 lead.
 
The Panthers drew a one out walk and had the runner move to second after a wild pitch. However, Valdez forced a flyout and strikeout to end the game.
 
Castillo, Olivo and Coffee all had two hits as Castillo also had two RBI. Valdez earned his first win of the year after recording two strikeouts in 2.2 innings of action,
 
The series concludes on Sunday at 12 p.m. back at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.