ATLANTA - Bethune-Cookman saw the 2024 baseball season come to an end as the Wildcats fell in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) semifinals to Jackson State, 4-2, Saturday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium. 



The game, originally set to begin at noon EST, was pushed back to a 1 p.m. after a round of storms rolled through.

Ater Tanner Boccabello worked around a one-out hit in the first, the Wildcats (32-27)  put two runners on on a Daniel Figueroa leadoff single and a Jose Gonzalez intentional walk, but B-CU could not scratch a run across.

Jackson State (36-19) put pressure on all afternoon, singling twice in the second, and twice in the fourth, but the Tigers were held off the board.

B-CU again worked a pair of baserunners on in the bottom of the fourth with a two-out Ramses Cordova single and Irivin Escobar hit-by-pitch.

The Tigers struck first in the top of the fifth as JSU worked pair of singles before Lenny Montesano took a Boccabello off-speed pitch deep over the wall in right center field to go in front, 3-0.

The Wildcats looked ready to respond in the bottom of the fifth as Colton Olasin and Daniel Figueroa walked before Sergio Rivera singled to push all the runners up a base with two men out. Unfortunately for B-CU, a flyout ended the innings with the bases stranded. 

Jackson State again put two runners on in the sixth, but Garrett Chun saved a run with a perfect throw from left field to gun Myles White out at home and end the inning. 

Two one-out singles put Tigers on again in the seventh before Lenny Montesano singled home Rodney Hibbler Jr. to make it a 4-0 ballgame. 

After Patrick Groark struck out the side in the top half of the inning, B-CU finally broke through in the bottom of the eighth after a Rivera walk and Jose Gonzalez homer deep down the line in left to cut the deficit to 4-2. 

Jackson State continued to threaten into the top of the ninth, with a walk, Montesano intentional walk, and B-CU error to load the bases with two outs before Groark forced a weak groundout to the mound to escape the jam.

Tiger reliever Christian Womble entered in the ninth to shut the door on B-CU's title hopes with a 1-2-3 inning. 

Boccabello finished the day with four runs - all earned - on 13 hits with no walks and four strikeouts in 6.1 innings.

Groark was strong in relief. He did not allow a hit in 2.2 innings with three walks to three strikeouts. 

• Ramses Cordova was the only Wildcat with mutiple hits on the day, finishing 2-4.
• The Wildcats stranded nine runners on base.
• After his homer Saturday, Jose Gonzalez finished the season tied with Ramses Cordova for the team lead in homers at seven. He finished the season on a team-high 31-game on-base streak. 

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--#HailWildcats--