BATON ROUGE, La. – A four-run sixth by Southern was the difference as the Jaguars opened the series with a 5-3 win over TSU.
TSU scored in the first inning as Johnothan Thomas was hit by a pitch, stole second and eventually scored on Jeremy Gaines' RBI for the 1-0 lead. The contest remained scoreless until the third as SU scored on a two-out single.
SU broke through in the sixth as a leadoff walk and wild pitch led to a 2-1 lead. TSU ran into further trouble as three straight walks led to a 3-1 deficit. SU would hit a sacrifice fly and another RBI single to move ahead 5-1.
TSU crossed home two runs in the eighth to draw within 5-3 but that would be the final runs of the night as SU had a 1-2-3 ninth.
Jeremy Almaguer, CJ Castillo and Avery Chatman all had hits for TSU while Jordan Martinez fell to 2-3 on the season despite striking out six in five innings.
The series resumes at 2 p.m. Saturday.
