sports
5
Rain postpones SWAC West game
Thursday, April 28, 2016
BRANDON LAGARDE
GSU Sports Media
A rain delay suspended
play Sunday afternoon between Grambling State University (19-19, 12-5 SWAC)
and Texas Southern University (16-19, 10-10 SWAC) at
MacGregor Park. TSU led
3-0 in the sixth when the
game was called. Game three
of the three-game weekend
series will be continued later
in the season. No date has
been set.
The series is tied at 1-1.
Grambling State won the Friday (April 22) game 3-2 with
a eight strikeout performance
by pitcher Issac O’Bear.
O’Bear (7-2) has 50 strikeouts
on the season and is tied for
first place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference for
wins.
TSU took the Saturday
April 23 game, 5-2. GSU
pitcher Tanner Raiburn
contributed five strikeouts
in just as many innings.
“The biggest difference in
the two game was we didn’t
have enough offense,” GSU
baseball coach James Cooper
said as the team headed back
to Grambling.
“We barely had enough offense to win game one -- and
we won 3-2 -- to go along
with a great pitching performance of Issac O’Bear.”
It was all Texas Southern
through six innings Sunday
April 24. A 2-0 third inning
lead stretched to 3-0 in the
fourth inning. As the rain
started to pour in the fifth inning, Grambling State picked
up team play in the sixth
inning.
Shortstop Wesley Drain
stepped to the plate and exhibited his eye for great pitch
selection, refusing to swing at
junk. Drain patiently waited
for his pitch but received four
balls and walked. Drain and
center fielder Angel Peguero
are now tied at second in the
SWAC with 30 walks. With
one out, the SWAC’s best
hitter, third basemen Daniel
Barnett, provided a spark
for Grambling State, drilling a pitch for a double and
advancing Drain to third.
Barnett leads the SWAC in
doubles with 14, the conference with 60 hits and has a
batting average of .415 on
the season, second in the
conference. Cooper was disappointed that his team did
not pull off a series victory,
but he’s looking forward to
prepping for the next challenge.
“We are hoping it’s dry
when we get back home,”
said Cooper, “so we can get
a chance to take more batting
practice outside on the field.
The rainy weather that came
through last week really handicapped our offense if you
look at the way we’ve been
swinging the bat these last
few games.” Grambling State
hosts Alcorn State University
Tuesday April 26 at 6 p.m. at
GSU’s Wilbert Ellis Field.
After two losses against
TSU and with the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff
having a successful weekend,
GSU has fallen to second in
the SWAC West. Cooper is
determined to get his team
back into the race for first
and the division title as they
prepare for the last few regular season games and then the
SWAC baseball tournament
starting May 18. vv
“It’s very important to get
the number one seed going
into the tournament,” said
Cooper. “It puts you at an
advantage to play one of the
weaker teams for the other
side. As the one seed you’re
facing the four seed. When
you look at the history of
champions in the conference,
the majority of the teams
that finish with the one seed,
those are the majority of
the teams to win the SWAC
championship.”
CONTACT: [email protected]
A Grambling State University baseball Tiger makes an attempt for a ball.
Courtesy photo
Cheerleaders want ‘respek’ on their name Gnites headed to NFL?
BRITNEY WILLIAMS
Contributing writer
Grambling State cheerleaders are slightly disheartened with
the student body for not voting
to pass an increase to their bill.
This year, the cheerleaders
sought to add $5 for the semester and $2.50 for the summer
to their current fee, which is
$10. The extra revenue would
be geared toward assisting with
equipment and traveling expenses to games and competitions.
“As a team we are not really
struggling,” said Tiana Smith, a
junior, who has been a Grambling cheerleader for three years.
“We work with what we have
but, if the increased bill was
passed, it definitely would have
been used for new mats because
our mats are really old. The ballot came along with the Student
Government Association election ballots.
There were three additional
referendums: the Student Activity supplemental fee. That
added $35 to tuition during the
semester and $17.50 during the
summer for all campus-wide
activities and Favrot Student
Union Board events to be free
of charge to students. Health,
Intramural/Recreation and Student Union Inclusion requested
$35 per semester for the intramural fee and $40 for the Stu-
Courtesy photo
Grambling State cheerleading squad keeps the spirits high.
dent Union fee along with the
current fee of $25 for health.
The Earl Lester Cole Honors
College asked for $3 during the
semester and $1.50 in the summer. This fee goes toward the
ELC Honors College to help
them hold conferences and present in school-wide functions.
All bills were passed except
for the Cheerleading Team bill.
Smith thinks that the bills were
not broadcast around campus
enough. “…I do not believe that
the word got around to students.
But honestly, the word about
the student fee increase didn’t
get around and that got passed.
The Honors College fee increase
didn’t get around and that got
passed as well,” said Smith.
She also added that she
doesn’t think that students believe there is a purpose for the
increase, which is why they did
not get enough “yes” votes.
“I feel like our school have
other things to spend our money
on rather than better uniforms
or better traveling expenses,”
said Bradford Smith, a senior
from Goosport, Louisiana.
“Instead they could be using
our tuition on other things like
refurbishing our campus for recruits and alumni or upgrading
our technology or library. At ѡ