Tigers

Tigers Win SWAC Opener In Dramatic Fashion, 3-2

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A dramatic reach on base by Jordan Vidato helped his Texas Southern Tigers baseball team walk off the field victorious as they defeated Prairie View A&M 3-2 in the first game of their three-game weekend series.

Texas Southern sealed the win by hounding PVAMU reliever Dalton Acosta in the bottom of the ninth inning who replaced starter Kyle Smith after eight frames of work. A four-pitch Dean Salazar walk and Nic Garza single to left field gift-wrapped the Tigers a clear shot of ending the game in their favor. With runners on first and second base and all the pressure piling over Acosta of extending the match to extra innings, Vidato stepped in the box as the third batter of the bottom frame.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he bunted on the first pitch of the at-bat down the third-base line to force PV’s Sebastian Coria into making a quick throw from a squatted position to first. However, the momentum of Coria’s fall caused his heave across the infield diamond to go wide from his first baseman and sail well into foul territory, allowing TSU pinch-runner Tyler Williams to kickstart the festivities by scoring the winning run.

Despite the close scoreline, TSU had opportunities of blowing the game open, but on each occasion, they came out empty-handed. The most notable occurrence happened early on in the bottom of the second inning when the Tigers loaded the bases and had no outs on the board, only to be left with nothing after getting shutout 1-2-3 in the batter’s box.

That close call, along with the similar instances scattered during the game, galvanized the visiting team to hold on with the Tigers all the way to the end despite totaling just four hits in the game and making five fielding errors.

Shortly after opening the score in the fifth inning, Texas Southern broke the deadlock in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a Vidato reach from an error committed by PVAMU’s second baseman, prompting Dean Salazar to score for a 2-1 lead. Prairie View quickly equaled the issue in the top of the seventh thanks to a Roberto Maldonado RBI double to right-center field, making it a 2-2 game. Meanwhile, TSU stuck firm in their resilience and played the long game against their rivals, waiting until the last possible second for their ultimate offensive.

Nic Garza, the team’s third baseman and member of the 2021 Preseason All-SWAC First Team, enjoyed a field day with his bat as he pulled in a career-best 4-for-4 line with a double attached. This was Garza’s third multi-hit game so far in the season. As a result of his outing, he now holds a .414 overall average and a 1.105 OPS, far and away the best in the team currently.

Vidato serviced the Tigers with his two RBIs and one walk for the game. Left fielder and leadoff hitter Tyson Thompson provided one RBI thanks to his extra-base hit in the top of the fifth which brought Michael Goudeau home from second base.

TSU’s Jacob Morin earned the win for the game as he relieved starter Kam Fields in the seventh frame and threw for three innings on one hit, one earned run and two strikeouts. For Fields’ part, he made a quality start with his nine strikeouts, three hits, one earned run, and four walks.

Prairie View’s starter Kyle Smith received a no-decision as he surrendered just two runs (one earned) on seven hits, three walks, and five strikeouts in eight innings.

They will reconvene in MacGregor Park against PVAMU for the second game of the series on March 6 with the first pitch scheduled to be thrown at 2 p.m.

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