Alcorn advances to SWAC title game with comeback win

Alcorn State Braves will play Grambling State Tigers at 2 p.m. today for the 2010 SWAC Championship and an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

SHREVEPORT, LA — The Alcorn State Braves are making a habit of late-inning victories at the SWAC baseball tournament. And that perseverance has put the Braves on the cusp of their first ever SWAC tournament championship. One day after scoring a run in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Alcorn scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning to post an 8-7 victory over Southern that puts them in the tournament championship game against Grambling State on Sunday.

“We’ve had a lot of fight and a lot of heart,” Alcorn State coach Barret Rey said. “That’s what has gotten us to where we are right now.” Southern helped Alcorn’s cause by committing six errors — three in the decisive seventh inning. Trailing 6-4 entering the top of the seventh, two Alcorn batters reached on errors by Southern infielders. With two outs, Kilby Perdomo singled to load the bases.

Rodney Warren tied the game with a two-run single up the middle off Kyle Wahl, who relieved starter Chase Richard after the first error of the inning. Alcorn took its first lead of the game when David Reed reached and Perdomo scored on the second error of the inning by SWAC Player of the Year and Southern third baseman Frazier Hall.

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Southern coach Cador staying in background

Southern University Coach Roger Cador is taking it easy and will allow assistant coach Fernando Puebla to run the team during the SWAC Tournament.

On a hot, muggy afternoon Saturday, acting head coach Fernando Puebla had the Southern University baseball team running. The position players were doing 24 sprints in the outfield at Lee-Hines Field, the pitchers six laps around the warning track. “It’s going to be hot in Shreveport too,” said Puebla, looking forward to the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament, which starts Wednesday at Fairgrounds Field. “We need to be in condition.” What was missing was the dragging of heels and the bickering of a bunch of young men having to toil in the heat of a day where one might break a sweat just standing in the shade.

Instead, players smiled and cracked jokes. Things were loose, almost relaxed — or at least as relaxed as things can be while running 24 sprints in the outfield — as the players put in the work in preparation for the postseason. A relaxed demeanor is part of the reason the Jaguars (23-20) won five of their final six regular-season games, all after Puebla took over for Roger Cador, who sat out the late part of the season for health reasons. And although Cador said he has been cleared to return to “do whatever I want to,” he said, the veteran coach knows a good thing when he sees it. Watching from the sideline, Cador has seen his team play well.

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