DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Bethune-Cookman Baseball is set for the final Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) series of the 2025 regular season when the Wildcats play host to the Texas Southern Tigers at Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium in Sanford, Florida. The series begins Thursday, May 15, at 6 p.m. If able to collect a series win, B-CU would claim its first-ever SWAC regular season title.
 
Prior to Saturday's series finale, Head Coach Jonathan Hernandez and the Wildcats staff will honor 12 seniors playing in their final home game for the Maroon and Gold. Being honored on the weekend are each of the following: Tanner Boccabello, Yoansell Diaz, Irvin Escobar, Daniel Figuero, Marcos Gamboa, Sebastian Garrido, Sergio Rivera, Jorge Rodriguez, Aaron Schaeffer, Manny Souffrain, Peter Vazquez and Jayme Villafane.
 


Thursday, May 15
6 p.m. – vs. Texas Southern | Sanford, Fla. | Live Stats | Watch
 
Friday, May 16
6 p.m. – vs. Texas Southern | Sanford, Fla. | Live Stats | Watch
 
Saturday, May 17
2 p.m. – vs. Texas Southern | Sanford, Fla. | Live Stats | Watch
 
IN THE RANKINGS
▪ Bethune-Cookman is not ranked in this week's D1Baseball.com Top 25
▪ Texas Southern is not ranked in this week's D1Baseball.com Top 25
 


▪ With 500 hits entering the series against Texas Southern, the Wildcats have amassed the most regular season hits in a season since securing 505 prior to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament in 2011.
▪ The series finale last weekend at Grambling State was postponed due to weather and is unlikely to be made up due to the dates conflicting with the upcoming SWAC Tournament in Birmingham, Alabama.
▪ B-CU enters the regular season finale having won seven of its last 10 games, including two from Grambling State last weekend in Louisiana.
▪ Bethune-Cookman is an even 2-2 in extra-inning games this year – with each of those contests finishing in the 10th inning.
▪ Jorge Rodriguez leads the Wildcats batting attack with a .384 average, adding 11 home runs, a team-high matching 12 doubles and 35 RBIs.
▪ Andrey Martinez tops the team with 16 home runs, followed closely by Jesus Vanegas with 14 of his own.
▪ The B-CU pitching staff has fanned 408 batters across the campaign, led at the top by Edwin Sanchez (71) and Joel Core (63).
▪ Four Wildcats enter the TSU series with double-digit on-base streaks intact – Jeter Polledo (17), Vanegas (14), Daniel Figueroa (13) and the injured Manny Souffrain (12).
 

BCU VS. TEXAS SOUTHERN SERIES
▪ This will be the first series between the two programs.
▪ Bethune-Cookman and Texas Southern have only met once all-time in the history of both prestigious baseball programs.
▪ Last season, B-CU defeated TSU by a score of 16-0 as part of the SWAC Tournament in Atlanta.
 

HEAD COACH JONATHAN HERNANDEZ
"This is a big weekend for us. It's the final tune-up before the tournament with a lot at stake for the series as a whole, and we want to be playing our best baseball heading into the postseason. Texas Southern is a very good team with some very good players, and we're expecting a hard-fought series."
 
"Our guys have been focused all week. We've been working on cleaning up some little things – situational hitting, tightening up our defense, and making sure our pitchers stay sharp and healthy, above all things. This is a huge weekend, and we are taking it very seriously."
 
"We've talked all year about staying consistent and trusting the process. This series is no different – we're going to compete one pitch at a time and focus on playing our brand of baseball."
 
"It's always great to play in front of our fans. Sanford's been great to us this season, and we're excited to finish the regular season at another historic ballpark. And it's a chance for our seniors and their parents to feel a little 'closer', if that makes sense, with Sanford Stadium providing an intimate atmosphere that we just love. It's going to be a happy and sad weekend saying goodbye to the seniors, but also playing a great series against a traditionally powerful SWAC opponent like Texas Southern."
 

TEXAS SOUTHERN TIGERS
▪ Texas Southern arrives to Central Florida with a record of 21-28 overall, and a 14-13 mark in SWAC play.
▪ The Tigers have lost eight of their last nine games, including consecutive series sweeps at home to Southern (La.) and Florida A&M, respectively.
▪ In the series against Southern, the Tigers averaged just under eight runs per game, respectfully, showing their offensive prowess.
▪ The last series win in league play for TSU was a sweep of rival Prairie View A&M (April 17-19) in Houston.
▪ The Tigers are led offensively by Kelton Phillips who's batting a team-leading .375 with five home runs and 22 stolen bases.
▪ Bryce Hughes tops the team in stolen bases with 44, while also owning a team-high eight sacrifice bunts and two sac flies, respectfully.
▪ The big hitter for TSU is Damian Garcia with a team-leading 14 home runs, five triples, 55 RBIs and a .813 slugging percentage across the campaign.
▪ Three different pitchers have amassed three (3) wins on the year, including Calvin McClendon with a 3-2 record and 5.45 ERA. He is followed by Kewan Braziel with a 3-7 mark and 8.15 ERA on the season.
▪ As a unit, TSU is batting .304 collectively with 60 home runs and 384 RBIs to go along with a .492 slugging clip.
▪ On the mound, the Tigers own a team ERA of 8.94 with 256 strikeouts.
 

RECAPPING B-CU'S LAST GAME (at Grambling State)
Andrey Martinez's homer total grew to 16 as the Wildcats secured a series win over Grambling State with a 9-3 victory, Saturday afternoon at Wilbert Ellis Field.
 
Bethune-Cookman went hitless until the bottom of the third as Sergio Rivera took a hit by pitch to lead off the frame, followed by a Daniel Figueroa walk. After a sacrifice bunt moved the pair into scoring position, a wild pitch allowed Rivera to score the game's opening run. Jorge Rodriguez singled one batter later to make it 2-0, Wildcats. 

Grambling State had managed only three hits heading into the fifth but loaded the bases on an error and back-to-back singles. An RBI single to center cut the deficit to one before a flyout ended any further damage. 

The big inning for B-CU came in the sixth as Jesus Vanegas led off the inning with his 13th homer of the year. A Jeter Polledo double and a pair of wild pitches allowed the Wildcat shortstop to make it a 4-1 game. Again, a B-CU walk and hit batter put two on with two out, this time for Martinez, whose homer to left made it an 8-1 B-CU lead. 

The Tigers grabbed two runs in the eighth again with help from a B-CU error to make it 8-3. Andrey Martinez capped off the 9-3 win with a solo shot - his second homer of the game - in the top of the ninth. 

Starter Edwin Sanchez improves to 8-1 on the year after five innings in which he allowed only one unearned run on six hits with 10 strikeouts. Aaron Schaeffer earned the save after four innings in which he allowed just one earned run with two strikeouts.
 


The SWAC Tournament begins Wednesday, May 21 and runs through Sunday, May 25, at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Seedings will be announced following the weekend's final series between all teams in the league.
 


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