Southern to host Tulane today

• Advocate staff report
• Published: May 7, 2008 - UPDATED: 7:03 a.m.

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Coming off a three-game sweep of Prairie View over the weekend, the Southern University baseball team is flying high.

With the sweep, the Jaguars (26-15) clinched the Southwestern Athletic Conference Western Division title and now turn their attention to the SWAC tournament which starts May 14 at Lee-Hines Field.

“We played very well at Prairie View,” said Southern coach Roger Cador, whose team has won 16 of its last 20 games. “The kids are swinging the bats well and we’re pitching well. We didn’t play the best defense so we can sharpen our game some.”

Southern will try to further hone its game when it hosts Tulane at Lee-Hines Field at 6:30 p.m. today.

“It’s a real good tuneup for us,” Cador said. “We’re playing one of the top teams in the country. We’ll see how we stack up.”

No. 28-ranked Tulane (32-15-1) beat Southern 14-6 earlier this season in New Orleans, banging out a pair of home runs and 10 hits against the Jaguars.

“They’re more of a power team,” Cador said. “They play balanced baseball.”

Tulane was batting. .299 as a team with 46 home runs going into Tuesday night’s contest against UNO.

Rob Segedin (.358 batting average, five home runs, 47 RBIs) and Anthony Scelfo (.333, nine HRs, 47 RBIs) lead the Green Wave offense.

Southern, which boasts a .323 team average, will be led by outfielder Brad McDavid (.354, five HRs, 41 RBIs) and first baseman Calvin Anderson (.327, five HRs, 32 RBIs).

Belfred Pryer (1-1, 4.38 ERA) will start against the Green Wave. Pryer is coming off solid mid-week starts against UNO and Nicholls State.

Southern will be without leading hitter Romey Bracey. The Jaguars third baseman, hitting .356, has an injured wrist. … After today’s game, Southern will host Stillman College in a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday. The two teams will meet again at noon Sunday.