JACKSON, Miss. – Tanner Boccabello gave Bethune-Cookman six innings on the bump Friday evening, while Manny Souffrain launched his fifth home run of the season for the Wildcats as BCU took the first game of a three-game Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Baseball series by a score of 9-5 over Jackson State at Braddy Field.
 
Trailing 1-0 after the first inning, Bethune-Cookman (28-22, 18-7 SWAC) responded with four runs in the top of the second inning.
 
After Jose Gonzalez led off with a single, designated hitter Manny Souffrain delivered his team-leading fifth home run of the campaign with a two-run shot clear the wall in right field, pushing the Wildcats out in front, 2-1. Irvin Escobar followed with a base knock of his own, and Colton Olasin drew a walk just before Jorge Gonzalez Febo recorded an infield single to load the bases. Jayme Villafane posted a sacrifice fly to right in order to plate Escobar for the 3-1 BCU lead, as the first five batters of the inning reached safely for the Wildcats on Jackson State starting pitcher Garrett VanDeventer.
 
Daniel Figueroa reached safely on an error charged to the Tigers infield as Olasin crossed for the Wildcats run to boost the score at 4-1 in favor of the visitors.
 
Jackson State (30-18, 13-12 SWAC) chipped into the lead at 4-2 in the home-half of the inning when Sebastian Cabeza grounded out to short with an RBI that scored Robert Tate, after the Tigers shortstop led off with a single to right.
 
BCU added two in the top of the fourth inning to widen the lead, 6-2.
 
Febo led off with a double down the line in left, setting the stage for Figueroa to drive him in with a single through the left side. The BCU centerfielder would come around to score himself off the end of a Sergio Rivera RBI groundout to second.
 
Febo, playing third on the night for the Maroon and Gold, tallied an RBI sac fly to straightaway center field in the top of the fifth to send home Escobar, after the BCU catcher reached safely to kick off the inning courtesy an error charged to the JSU infield.
 
The lead would become 8-1 in the top of the sixth after Gonzalez picked up the third sac fly RBI of the evening for the Cats, this time allowing Figueroa to score for the second time in the contest.
 
JSU responded with two runs in the home-half of the inning after Rodney Hibler tripled with nobody out to score Cabeza for the first run of the at-bat for the Tigers. Right fielder Jordan McCladdie immediately followed with an RBI single back up the middle to plate Hibler and make it 8-3.
 
The Cats pushed their final run of the night across in the ninth with Figueroa collecting a bases-loaded walk that saw Escobar score his third run of the evening.
 
JSU pulled a run back in the home-half of the inning with Myles White's groundout to first, but was enough to see Joseph Eichelberger come home for the score and produce the final 9-2 score line.
 
The win went to Boccabello on the hill for the Cats, upping his record at 7-2 on the season. He went six innings with four runs (three earned) on 12 hits and five strikeouts. The loss was pinned to JSU starter VanDeventer, dropping him to 6-5 on the season in working 6.1 innings and giving up eight runs (seven earned) on 10 hits, three walks and two strikeouts.
 
The JSU offense was led by six players with two hits each, including left fielder Arjun Huerta with a 2-for-3 effort and a double.
 
BCU was led by five players of its own recording a multi-hit game on the night, led by Souffrain with a 3-for-5 effort and a home run. Garrett Chun, Figueroa, Rivera and Febo each added two hits apiece, respectfully.
 
The two teams meet back at Braddy Field on Saturday for game two of the series, with first pitch set for 3 p.m. ET.

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