Two hot teams, two hot pitchers. That sums up Southern’s first-round matchup against Bethune-Cookman in the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament at noon Wednesday at Atlanta’s Russ Chandler Stadium.
The Jaguars (22-26) have won eight of their past nine games against conference teams while the Wildcats have won seven of nine. The game will match two of the conference’s best pitcher in Southern’s Nick Wilson and BC’s Nolan Santos, who leads the SWAC with 124 strikeouts.
The winner will play at 6 p.m. Thursday against the Grambling-Jackson State winner. The Southern-BC loser will play the Grambling-Jackson State loser at noon.
“Everybody is ready to go. If not, they need to be,” Southern coach Chris Crenshaw said. “We finally started playing good baseball. We got it going and we’re going to keep it going through the tournament.”
Wilson finished the regular season with a 5-2 record and 3.28 earned run average, fourth best in the conference, and his 92 strikeouts in 79 2/3 innings is third in the SWAC. Santos was just ahead of Wilson with a 3.22 ERA and a 7-3 record.
Crenshaw is hoping his improving pitching staff depth can carry the Jaguars beyond the first game and through the tournament. After Wilson, Antoine Harris has shown better results as well as Jalon Long, at one time the Friday starter but running third. Long has allowed only three earned runs in his last three outings over a 10-inning span.
“Jalon just needed to work on some things the last couple of weeks,” Crenshaw said. “Now it’s time to see if the things we worked on will click. It was good for him and he’s going in the right direction.”
Bethune-Cookman (29-25) presents a big challenge. The Wildcats have the fourth best team batting average (.293), second-best ERA (5.63) and the top fielding percentage (.968), with the second fewest errors (62).
Outfielder Hylan Hall leads the Wildcat offense with a .364 batting average, four homers and 45 RBIs. Leadoff hitter and third baseman Luis Tuero is batting .346 and DH Robert Moya supplied the power with a .317 average, and team-bests of eight homers and 46 RBIs.
Southern’s offense woke up in its last series with 31 runs on 33 hits. Centerfielder and leadoff hitter Jaylen Armstrong leads the way with a .322 average and 37 steals. Second baseman Jah’li Hendricks is batting .312, and surging first baseman O’Neill Burgos is batting .309 with 13 homers and 57 RBIs. His homer total is tied for third in the SWAC.
“I’m proud of our guys how they finished the season,” Crenshaw said. We still have the tournament to take care of business and get us ready for a regional.”
Burgos honored
Burgos was Southern’s only representative on the All-SWAC baseball team released on Tuesday, making the second team at first base. It was his second selection in two seasons.
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