Prairie View A&M's Eight-Run Fifth the Difference in SFA's 8-2 Loss

Tuesday, March 20

Prairie View, Texas

2:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

4-15, 0

Prairie View A&M

3-12, 0

Stephen F. Austin

Prairie View A&M

Photo by: Hardy Meredith | SFA Photography

Prairie View A&M's Eight-Run Fifth the Difference in SFA's 8-2 Loss

3/20/2018 6:25:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

'Jacks come back home Wednesday to try and stop four-game skid

By: Charlie Hurley | Director of Athletic Media Relations

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas - For eight innings, the Stephen F. Austin baseball team held Prairie View A&M scoreless.

The one inning the 'Jacks did not do so, however, proved to be the difference.

Leading 1-0 headed into the bottom of the fifth, the 'Jacks watched that lead evaporate quickly as the Panthers pounded out seven of their 11 hits and scored all eight of their runs which led to SFA's 8-2 loss Tuesday afternoon at Tankersley Field.

Making his first appearance on the mound since Feb. 17 at UTRGV, junior Jake Norton had little trouble with the Panthers through his three frames. During that span, the right-hander out of Waxahachie, Texas, racked up five strikeouts and worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the third with a fielder's choice groundout that helped protect the visiting team's early lead.

That advantage - SFA's only one of the game - came early on in the second inning. Josh Evans and Skylar Black started the frame with consecutive singles and Prairie View A&M's first of three errors on the day came in left field on Black's base knock which allowed Evans to come all the way home from second.

Once Norton exited the game in the fourth, Josh Ponder took over and sat the Panthers down in order before things went south in the fifth. SFA's sophomore gave up back-to-back singles to start the inning before committing an error which allowed the first Prairie View A&M run to score.

With the game knotted at one, Corbin Jamison pushed the Panthers ahead for good with his two-run single off of Ponder. After he gave up another hit and hit a batter to load the bases, Ponder was lifted in favor of Cole Ridgely but SFA's senior was greeted rudely by Prairie View A&M's Ezekiel Bear.

On Ridgely's 0-1 offering, Bear laced a bases-clearing double into the outfield that officially broke things open for the Panthers. Calvin Rucker followed with an RBI double of his own and before Ridgely got out of the frame Prairie View A&M tacked on its final run by way of an RBI groundout off the bat of Steven Williams.

Although Jesus Gamez and Tyler Starks combined to fire three frames of shutout ball the rest of the way, the damage had already been done by the Panthers with their high-scoring fifth. Sophomore Josh Campbell trimmed Prairie View A&M's lead to six with his one-out RBI single in the eighth but SFA was unable to pull any closer the rest of the way.

Evans was the only SFA player who posted a multi-hit performance, finishing 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored. Andrew Garcia led Prairie View A&M's 11-hit effort by going 3-for-4 with a run scored.

On the mound, Ponder was hit with the loss after giving up six runs on four hits in one inning of work. Kameron Woods (1-0) worked six innings in order to get the win for Prairie View A&M. In that time, he struck out four, walked six and let up four hits.

Wednesday afternoon at Jaycees Field, the 'Jacks will try and bust out of their four-game slump when they host SWAC adversary Grambling State. First pitch has been set for 4:00 p.m.

-SFA-