Jackson State shuts out Southern at MGM Park

BILOXI -- The Jackson State University Tigers and the Southern University Jaguars played in the first Division I baseball game at MGM Park on Tuesday, with JSU winning the storm-shortened five-inning contest 4-0.

The Tigers scored one run in the second inning and two more in the third. A home run in the fourth closed out the game's scoring.

"We left a couple of runs out there," said Jackson State's coach Omar Johnson. "We came out and we swung the bats well enough to score four runs right then before the weather came in and threw the game off a little bit. We have to be able to execute, have to be able to bunt and move some runners better than we did tonight."

The rain disrupted the game for just over an hour but not before Lakon Wilson made contact with the first pitch of the bottom of the fourth inning and knocked it out of MGM Park to close out the night's scoring.

The Tigers' first score came off of Tony Holton's RBI triple deep into center field, scoring Jesus Santana. The Tigers scored two more runs in the third as Holton doubled down the third base line with one out.

While the Tigers' offense did its job, the defense held its own as Vincent Anthonia kept the Jaguars off balance. The Jaguars collected four hits, but failed to put anything together for a score.

"Vincent has been good for us for years," said Johnson. "He is the kid that beat the number one team in the country (Louisiana-Lafayette) two years ago. He pitches for his national team, the Dutch team. He's been exactly what he was tonight. He's going to give you opportunities to win games."

Jackson State's record improves to 4-4. The Tigers begin conference play this weekend at Alabama State University.

This story was originally published March 1, 2016 at 11:11 PM with the headline "Jackson State shuts out Southern at MGM Park ."