GRAMBLING — After stumbling out of the gates during Games 1 and 2 against Grambling, Southern University baseball punctuated the weekend series with a convincing 15-3 win in seven innings Sunday afternoon at RWE Jones Park.
With the win, Southern (25-19, 15-5) cemented their standing atop the Southwestern Athletic Conference western division, won the season's head-to-head matchup with their bitter rival and, in Year 2 of the Kerrick Jackson era, drew within one win of claiming the program's first division title since 2014.
With the score tied at 1 in the top of the second, Southern seized control of the game with an 8-run inning. Willie Ward drew a lead off walk to setup Hampton Hudson's single.
A pair of Grambling miscues - a passed ball and wild pitch - scored Ward and Hampton, and the rest of the damage done in the first inning came with two outs on the board.
After Tyler LaPorte, who homered in the first inning, reached on an error by the Tiger shortstop, Johnny Johnson blasted a two-run homer over the left field fence before Ashanti Wheatley added a solo homerun in the next at-bat.
Malik earned a free trip to first base with a two-out walk then scored on Willie Ward's triple in his second plate appearance of the inning.
Ward capped off scoring for the Jaguars after touching home plate on the Tigers' second wild pitch of the second inning.
For the second straight game, LaPorte and Ward bagged three RBIs each in the win. Ward finished 3 of 4 with three runs scored while LaPorte went 3 of 5 and scored three times.
Starter John Guienze offered a seven-inning complete game gem, scattering five Grambling hits and limiting the Tigers to three runs.
Southern will host Nicholls State in the final home game of the season on Wednesday at 6 p.m. before turning their attention to Prairie View A&M in the final SWAC series on Friday.
The Jaguars need only one win during the three-game slate to clinch the 2019 SWAC West Title and the divisions top seed in next month postseason tournament at Wesley Barrow Stadium in New Orleans.
