Tigers Drop Tough Contest At Kansas As 9th Inning Rally Falls Inches Short

LAWRENCE, Kansas – Texas Southern nearly pulled off an improbable ninth-inning comeback but a potential game-tying grand slam was wiped out by replay as Kansas held on to an 11-7 win on Wednesday.
 
TSU opened the first with a bang as Daalen Adderley homered for an early 1-0 lead. Despite having two outs to open the bottom frame, TSU couldn’t close as KU hit two singles followed by two doubles to lead 5-1. The Jayhawks executed a double steal on the next at-bat to lead 6-1. The deficit grew to 8-1 after the third inning as KU took advantage of two wild pitches to move closer to home as they recorded back-to-back RBI groundouts.
 
Victor Molina hit a sac fly in the fourth to bring home Gabe Vasquez for an 8-2 deficit and scored its third run in the sixth as Ron Brown tripled home Roderick Coffee.
 
KU added another two-out RBI in the seventh and a two-out, two-run homer in the eighth for its final runs of the game. TSU kept fighting as Tyler Legendre’s RBI double in the ninth drove in Ben Hovda followed by CJ Castillo’s two-RBI single which scored Legendre and Tre Armendariz. Adderley would single followed by Alexander Olivo’s walk to load the bases as Gabe Vasquez drew a bases-loaded walk for an 11-7 deficit which allowed TSU to bat around and put the potential game-tying batter at the plate in Roderick Coffee.
 
With an 0-2 count, Coffee belted a potential game-tying grand slam over the left field wall but the play was ruled foul. The umpire staff went to the replay box but TSU was told there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn the call as Coffee fouled out to end the game.
 
TSU had 12 hits total as CJ Castillo, Adderley and Coffee all had two hits while Castillo added two RBI. Adolf Castillo was tagged with the loss as six pitchers saw action.
 
TSU is back in action in Baton Rouge, La. against Southern on Friday at 6 p.m.