Bethune-Cookman baseball outlasts Grambling State to keep season alive

Erick Almonte hit a third-inning grand slam to right field to keep Bethune-Cookman’s season alive with a 7-6 victory over Grambling State on May 21. The top-seeded Wildcats were on the ropes after No. 8 Arkansas-Pine Bluff upset the SWAC regular-season champions 6-4 earlier Thursday morning, but Bethune-Cookman responded to advance in the SWAC tournament’s elimination bracket.

B-CU and Grambling were tied at 1 entering the bottom of the third inning. The Tigers had scored in the top of the first on a Charles Ashe III groundout, and the Wildcats ’ Jose Fernandez hit a solo homer in the bottom of the second. Maikol Lucena singled to score Darryl Lee from third to earn Bethune-Cookman a 2-1 lead.

After Fernandez singled to right-center field to load the bases with one out, Almonte stepped into the batter’s box. He sent it over the right-field wall at Rickwood Field to extend the Wildcats’ lead to a commanding 6-1 advantage. KNEW IT IMMEDIATELY.

ALMONTE GRAND SLAM. #𝙃𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙨 | #𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙮𝙏𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 pic. twitter.