High scoring affair ends with FAMU baseball falling a game short of defending SWAC title

The Southwestern Athletic Conference will have a new baseball champion this season.

On Saturday, the reigning champs, Florida A&M, fell to Grambling State 14-11 in the SWAC semifinals play-in game at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta.

FAMU rallied from an 8-3 third-inning deficit, taking an 11-9 lead over Grambling State with an in-the-park homerun by Janmikell Bastardo (Jalen Niles also scored on the RBI), followed by a homer by Sebastian Greico at the bottom of the seventh.

Grambling tied the game at the top of the eighth inning with a two-run double and scored three more unanswered runs to secure the win.

FAMU, a one-seed in the SWAC Tournament, finishes its season with a 29-27 record and an East division regular season title.

Saturday was FAMU and Grambling’s third meeting of the SWAC Tournament. The teams had played against each other on Thursday when the Rattlers run-ruled the Tigers 17-7 in seven innings for the second-round win. On Friday, while in a sudden-death situation in the double-elimination SWAC Tournament, Grambling State fired back at FAMU with a 9-3 semifinal victory to set the stage for Saturday’s ‘win and in’ game.

FAMU opened the SWAC Tournament on Wednesday, where it survived a competitive first-round matchup against Southern 8-5.

FAMU hit a home run in every game, with Joseph Pierini and Greico notching one apiece on Saturday.

Five different pitchers have contributed to FAMU’s SWAC Tournament run ― Cody Williams (win), Carson Kelly (win), Grant Harrison (save), Caleb Granger, and Andrew Ginther.

Jackson State and Grambling State will meet for the SWAC Championship on Sunday at 1 p.m.

ESPN+ is streaming the game.

FAMU track's Breanna Brown-Marshall wraps an incredible season at NCAA East Preliminaries

LEXINGTON, KY ― Breanna Brown-Marshall has much to be proud of in her debut season with the FAMU track and field program. The senior is a two-time high jump champion, winning at both the SWAC indoor and outdoor meets, the latter of which also saw her claim a silver (4x100) and bronze medal (long jump). She was named the SWAC's Most Outstanding Field Performer. And, she qualified for the first round of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Competing against the best high jumpers in the east on Saturday (May 25), Brown-Marshall performed exceptionally. She cleared the first three heights with ease, requiring just one attempt in each round, and achieved a final height of 1.76 meters (5' 9.25"). The "Top 12" advanced to Eugene, and the Rattler tied for 14th.

Brown-Marshall's performance officially crowned FAMU's outdoor season. The team amassed 14 medals at the SWAC Championships and sent five to the NCAA meet (Nya Blocker, Brown-Marshall, Joseph DeRosier, Rori Lowe, and Katelynn Smith).

FAMU's track and field recap is provided by FAMU Athletics.

Gerald Thomas, III covers Florida A&M University Athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at gdthomas@tallahassee.com or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU Baseball: Rattlers fall a game short of SWAC title game to Grambling