HOUSTON – The Southern University's baseball team opens their season at the Cactus Jack HBCU Classic at Minute Made in Houston from February 17-19.
 
The Jaguars open the season against Jackson State University at 7 p.m. Friday. Saturday's game has a first pitch schedule for 3 p.m. against Grambling and Sunday's matchup against Texas Southern is slated for 7 p.m.
 
Southern is looking to return to the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game for the fourth year in a row and win the title for the third time in those four years. Last year's team fell just short of back-to-back-to-back SWAC championships in a 14-inning thriller to Alabama State.
 
The Jaguars return four of their top six producers at the plate. Jaylen Armstrong led the team with a .360 batting average, along with eight doubles, two triples, two home runs and 25 RBIs. Nathaniel Lai (.339), O'Neill Burgos (.322) and JJ Rollon (.303) all return with averages over .300. Burgos led the team with 15 doubles, while Rollon led with five triples. Burgos also finished with a team best 57 RBIs and second on the team with eight home runs.
 
Southern lost their Friday night starter in Joseph Battaglia, but return a plethora of pitchers including closer Enrique Ozoa and starters Christian Davis and Anthony Fidanza. Ozoa appeared in 20 games with a 3.68 ERA with 30 strikeouts compared to just 15 walks. Fidanza finished the season with 10 starts for a 5-5 record with 36 strikeouts.  Davis was third on the team with a 5.50 ERA in his 11 appearances, finishing with a 3-4 record with 24 strikeouts.
 
The Jaguars were 2-0 against Jackson State last season, pushing their series win streak to three. The 4-2 record against Grambling last season gave Southern a four-game lead overall in the series history. Southern won the first four games against Texas Southern before falling in the final two games, splitting the season series.

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