Tigers Fight for Comeback but Fall Short Rodney Bush 05/27/10 Shreveport, LA- Texas Southern was the first to break the top seed omen in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Baseball Championship Tournament in Shreveport, La. They defeat Mississippi Valley 9-8, in a game that went down to the wire. Both teams battled the entire game…fighting their way through several momentum shifts. Mississippi Valley started it off in the first inning with a 1-0 lead Texas Southern responded in the 3rd inning by picking up three runs. Derik Daniel’s (Jr, Fairfield, AL) shot to second baseball allowed Steven Lopez (FR, Houston, TX) to score. Ray Hernandez (SO, Houston, TX) then singled to center field and sent Corbin Smith (FR, Houston, TX) and Bryan Smith (JR, Houston, TX) home. TSU led 3-1. Valley went up 4-3 with 3 runs in the fifth inning. Daniel helped the Tigers get one run back when he drove in Bryan Smith. Corbin Smith scored on an error by the first baseman to give TSU a 5-4 advantage. Mississippi Valley tied the game at 5 in the 6th, then went up by three runs (8-5) in the 8th. Texas Southern responded and Kerry White hit a two run home run to right center field. The Tigers got their third and game tying run when Bryan Smith hit a sacrifice fly to center field. The game was tied 8-8 going into the 9th. Mississippi Valley went three up and three down. Hernandez came to the plate for the Tigers and hit a double to right center field. Terrel Jones (JR, Tupelo, MS) then sealed the deal with a single to right center which sent the winning run home. Daniel, Hernandez and White each had two RBIs. Dakota Laufenburg (JR, Pleasaton, CA) got the win in relief. Mathias Meintie (Jr, Houston, TX) started the game on the mound. He had two strikeouts, six hits and four earned runs in 5.1 innings. Abel Flores (FR, Houston, TX) had five strikeouts in 2.2 innings pitched. Texas Southern will face the loser of the Grambling vs. Alabama State game on Friday at Noon.