Texas Southern and Bethune-Cookman stayed alive in elimination games, Florida A&M moved within one win of the Bracket A title, and Alabama State-Arkansas-Pine Bluff was postponed by weather.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Day Two of the 2026 SWAC Baseball Tournament at Rickwood Field delivered two elimination-game thrillers and one offensive statement before weather forced a schedule change.

Texas Southern erased a six-run deficit to eliminate Jackson State, 8-7, Bethune-Cookman survived Grambling State, 7-6, and Florida A&M powered past Southern, 15-6, in a game delayed nearly two hours by rain. The scheduled Bracket B winners’ bracket game between No. 4 Alabama State and No. 8 Arkansas-Pine Bluff was postponed due to weather and moved to Friday morning.

All tournament games are broadcast on SWAC TV.

Game 5: Texas Southern 8, Jackson State 7

Texas Southern looked buried early, trailing 7-1 after five innings, but the Tigers kept chipping away before walking off Jackson State in the bottom of the ninth.

Jackson State built the lead behind a productive top half of the order. Tyree Reed scored in the first on Pierre Cabral’s RBI groundout, Payton Chace Boines scored in the second on Robert Tate Jr.’s bases-loaded walk, and the Tigers added three more in the third on a Hederick Torres sacrifice bunt, a Shemar Harris RBI single and Reed’s RBI double. Reed doubled in another run in the fifth, and Cabral drew a bases-loaded walk to push JSU ahead 7-1.

Texas Southern started the comeback in the sixth. Shaun Williams delivered the biggest blow of the inning, a three-run triple that cut the deficit to 7-4, and Christopher Chavez followed with an RBI groundout to make it 7-5. Anthony Ruiz homered in the eighth to pull Texas Southern within one, then the Tigers finished it in the ninth. Miguel Morales and Derek Gipson opened the inning with singles, Williams tied it with an RBI single, and Chavez ended the game with a walk-off single to left center. 

Williams carried the Texas Southern offense, going 2-for-5 with a triple and four RBI. Chavez went 2-for-4 with two RBI, Ruiz homered, and Jonathan Trejo added two hits. For Jackson State, Reed was again locked in, finishing 2-for-3 with two doubles, two RBI, two walks and a hit-by-pitch. Harris went 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Cabral doubled, walked twice and drove in two.

Pitch counts:
Texas Southern: Joshua Pena 46; Kewan Braziel 20; Jose Luccioni 60; Jace Maynard 12; Joshua Prieto 52.

Result: Texas Southern advances to face Southern. Jackson State is eliminated.

Game 6: Bethune-Cookman 7, Grambling State 6

Bethune-Cookman responded to its Day One upset loss by building a six-run lead, then survived a late Grambling State rally to stay alive with a 7-6 win.

Grambling struck first in the opening inning when Charles Ashe III grounded out to score Dillon Braxton, but Bethune-Cookman answered in the second on Jose Fernandez’s solo home run. The Wildcats took control in the third. Maikol Lucena singled in Darryl Lee, and Erick Almonte followed with a grand slam to right field, giving Bethune-Cookman a 6-1 lead. The Wildcats added what proved to be a key run in the fifth when Michael Rodriguez scored on an error.

Grambling made it interesting in the eighth. The Tigers scored four runs in the inning, highlighted by RBI production from Cameron Hill, Chris Marcellus and Martavius Thomas, but Pablo Torres settled the game down for Bethune-Cookman. Torres recorded the final six outs and struck out two to earn the save. 

Almonte powered the Wildcats, going 2-for-3 with a double, home run and four RBI. Fernandez finished 2-for-3 with a homer, two runs and a walk, while Rodriguez scored twice. Grambling got two-hit games from Trey Bridges and Cameron Hill, and Ashe added a double and an RBI.

Pitch counts:
Bethune-Cookman: Harbersting Abreu 110; Julian Carrasquilla 5; Anthony Anselmo 13; Pablo Torres 30.

Result: Bethune-Cookman advances to face the loser of Alabama State-Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Grambling State is eliminated.

Game 7: Florida A&M 15, Southern 6

Florida A&M produced the loudest offensive performance of the tournament so far, collecting 19 hits in a 15-6 win over Southern in the Bracket A winners’ bracket game.

The Rattlers scored in six different innings and broke the game open in the middle frames. Matthew Perez doubled in the game’s first run in the second, then added another RBI single in the third before Josue Figueroa’s sacrifice fly made it 3-0. Southern cut the deficit to 3-2 in the fourth on Jaylon Lucky’s two-run homer, but FAMU answered with three runs in the fifth, three more in the sixth, three in the seventh after a 1-hour, 59-minute rain delay, and three more in the eighth.

Jackson McKenzie led the charge with one of the tournament’s best individual games, going 4-for-6, while hitting for the cycle, with a single, double, triple, home run, four RBI and four runs scored. Perez went 3-for-6 with four RBI, Alex Monile was 3-for-3 with a double, Jay Campbell doubled, tripled, drove in two and scored three times, and Colton Ryals added an RBI double. 

Southern had 10 hits but could not keep pace. Ryan Hunter went 4-for-5 with a stolen base, KJ White Jr. added two hits, and Lucky finished with a home run and three RBI.

Pitch counts:
Florida A&M: Garrett Workman 73; Ryan Young 3; Tanner Walker 40; Clark Lincoln 23.
Southern: Myles Dismute 91; Caden Brown 45; Stephen Tolbert 10; Kenneth Jackson 33; Noah Bagby 31.

Result: Florida A&M advances to the Bracket A final. Southern drops into an elimination game against Texas Southern.

Game 8: Postponed Due To Weather 

The scheduled Bracket B winners’ bracket game between No. 4 Alabama State and No. 8 Arkansas-Pine Bluff was postponed due to weather. That game will now open Friday’s modified schedule at 9 a.m.

Day Three Forecast

Friday, May 22 — All Games on SWAC TV

Game 8 — 9 a.m.
No. 4 Alabama State vs. No. 8 Arkansas-Pine Bluff

 

Season head-to-head: Alabama State leads 2-1. The Hornets won 9-4 and 14-10 before UAPB answered with a 26-1 win in the series finale. 

This becomes the delayed Bracket B winners’ bracket game. Alabama State has not played since Wednesday’s run-rule win over Grambling, while UAPB has been waiting since its late-night upset of Bethune-Cookman.

Game 9 — 12 p.m.
No. 6 Texas Southern vs. No. 2 Southern

 

Season head-to-head: Texas Southern leads 1-0. The Tigers beat Southern 15-12 at the Andre Dawson Classic, while the later conference series was canceled/postponed. 

Texas Southern enters with momentum after a walk-off comeback, but pitching availability will be the question after using five arms Thursday. Southern is trying to rebound after allowing 15 runs and 19 hits to FAMU.

Game 10 — 3 p.m.
No. 1 Bethune-Cookman vs. Loser Game 8

 

If Bethune-Cookman faces Alabama State, the season head-to-head favors Bethune-Cookman 2-1. If the Wildcats face Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Bethune-Cookman also won the regular-season series 2-1, but UAPB won the tournament meeting 6-4 on Day One. 

Bethune-Cookman survived its first elimination test, but the Wildcats used four pitchers Thursday and will need to manage the staff carefully.

Game 11 — 6 p.m.
No. 3 Florida A&M vs. Winner Game 9

 

If Florida A&M faces Texas Southern, the Rattlers lead the season series 3-0 and also won the tournament opener 8-6. If FAMU faces Southern, the Rattlers won the regular-season series 2-1 and added a 15-6 tournament win on Thursday. 

Florida A&M is one win from taking Bracket A. The Rattlers’ offense has scored 23 runs in two tournament games and enters Friday as the hottest lineup in Birmingham.

Modified Tournament Schedule

Saturday, May 23
Game 12 — Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 8, 9 a.m.
Game 11b — Loser Game 11 vs. Winner Game 11, 12 p.m., if necessary
Game 12b — Loser Game 12 vs. Winner Game 12, 3 p.m., if necessary

Sunday, May 24
Game 13 — Championship Game, 1 p.m.