GRAMBLING, La. -  For the third straight season, head coach Jonathan Hernandez and the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats have secured a thirty-win season with a 14-5 win over Grambling State, Friday night at Wilbert Ellis Field.



Bethune-Cookman (30-20, 21-4 SWAC) struck early with a run in the first thanks to back-to-back throwing errors by Grambling State (21-24, 16-9 SWAC). Jorge Rodriguez was the first to cross the plate as the Cats went up, 1-0.

The Tigers made up for their mistakes in the bottom of the first with three quick runs. With help from a Wildcat error and a wild pitch, the Tigers tied things at 1-1 before a two-RBI single made it a 3-1 lead for the home team. 

B-CU retook the lead an inning later, all with two outs after a double play. A walk and hit batter put two on for Darryl Lee, whose RBI single made it 3-2. One batter later, Andrey Martinez singled in two more to take the 4-3 lead. 

Lee's solo homer in the fourth made it a 5-3 B-CU lead. 

After a quiet sixth, Grambling State tied things again with a two-run homer to left that made it a 5-5 ballgame. 

From there, the Wildcats ran away with things. Jesus Vanegas led off the seventh with a homer. Two batters later, following an Irvin Escobar walk, Jeter Polledo sent one over the wall to make it 8-5. 

The Wildcats tacked on another in the eighth thanks to an Escobar sacrifice fly. 

The exclamation point came in the ninth as B-CU added five more. Another Tiger error - the third of the night - allowed Sergio Rivera to score after he took a hit-by-pitch, stole second, stole third - his fourth steal of the night - and came around to score. 

A bases-loaded walk for Armani Newton made it an 11-5 game. Another free pass - a Vanegas hit-by-pitch - made it a dozen. A Peter Vazquez walk and Christopher Watson fielder's choice capped off the 14-5 win. 

Pablo Torres made the start and improved to 2-0 on the season after six innings in which he allowed five runs - three earned - on six hits with a walk and a strikeout.

Carlos Jazmin and Sebastian Garrido finished things off with three scoreless with two strikeouts.