Southern players assembled in a circle in the outfield of Lee-Hines Field.
They stayed in the formation several minutes after their home fans were finished cheering the team’s 15th consecutive win against a Southwestern Athletic Conference opponent in the regular-season finale against Alabama A&M on Saturday.
The Jaguars were deliberating. They discussed their victory and the immediate future. One player who spoke in the postgame meeting was junior outfielder Ryan Hunter. The Florida International transfer congratulated his teammates on the sweep, then reminded them to recapture the “right mindset” by the next day.
Regular-season success isn’t the focus because the postseason is here. No. 2 Southern (27-21, 20-7 SWAC) will face No. 7 Jackson State (26-25, 16-14) in the SWAC Tournament at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama.
The team wants to approach the contest as if it didn’t have its best regular season since 2022, when it went 21-9 in the SWAC. Players don’t see any use in feeling satisfied with a strong year if the team is eliminated early.
“You just got to keep that job’s-not-finished mindset,” senior infielder K.J. White said. “Fifteen (straight) wins is cool, but it wouldn’t mean anything if we go to the SWAC tourney and bomb out.”
Only the SWAC Tournament champion will advance to the NCAA Tournament.
“We can’t drift off, we can’t get lost in the wins,” senior outfielder Jacoby Radcliffe said. “We won 15 straight conference games, but we just got to continue to keep tunnel vision.”
Hunter said Southern needs to sharpen its attention to detail for these high-stakes games.
“We’re in the SWAC tournament now, so any loss affects us huge,” Hunter said. “So there’s no time for making mistakes. We've got to come out and just play our best ball. So there’s no complacency, and everyone, whether you’re on the bench or you’re in the game, just got to be ready for the moment, because anything can happen.”
Southern coach Chris Crenshaw always knew he had an impressive team in the clubhouse, even after a 5-7 opening to conference play. His offense is clicking the way he had foreseen when forming the roster.
The sixth-year coach said the Jaguars have one of the top offenses in the SWAC. In White, he has a batter who is first in the SWAC and sixth in the nation in batting average (.424).
Radcliffe is another stalwart who combines highlight-reel catches in center field with a balanced offense. He leads the SWAC in stolen bases (35 for 39) while posting a .291 batting average along with 40 RBIs, four triples, four home runs and 53 runs.
“He’s kind of like a hybrid,” White said of Radcliffe. “Fastest guy on the team, but also pound for pound probably the strongest and most powerful. Whenever he gets fastballs in his area, it allows him to just show what he can do.”
“He’s like an X-factor,” Hunter said. “He can do it on defense and offense. He’s just a high-energy guy and one of the leaders on our team. So when he’s going and doing stuff like that, it’s just hard for everyone else not to follow behind.”
Crenshaw said people like Radcliffe mean “everything” because of his play and leadership as a four-year player at Southern.
He also said Hunter has a case to be among the most improved players in the country. The transfer was batting around .180 in late March and is now hitting .345. He also has 14 doubles, 40 RBIs, five triples and two home runs.
“Just staying focused, staying in it,” Hunter said of his growth. “It’s easy once something bad happens in your first or second at-bat to just be down for the rest of the day. I just try and flush it and stay within the game, keep coming to practice with a good mindset and just doing the best I can.”
Southern head coach Chris Crenshaw walks back to the dugout after a mound visit in the ninth inning in the game against UA-Pine Bluff on Sunday, April 26, 2026 at Lee-Hines Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Staff photo by Michael Johnson
STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON
Crenshaw said the team’s buy-in to playing their roles is a product of their togetherness.
“The word we’ve been using is committed,” he said. “Committed to each other. So as long as we stay committed to each other, we got a chance.”
While the Jaguars have rolled since their last SWAC loss against top-seeded Bethune-Cookman on April 4, there is still room to improve. Hunter said after their 15-13 win over Alabama A&M, they have to put teams away earlier.
The primary area of improvement everyone agreed on is getting better on the mound.
“We have to get a lot better at pitching,” Crenshaw said. “To keep them in the game and walk people and stuff like that, we’ve got to tighten it up. We've got to be better, because this is championship time now. Regular season is over with, all the marbles on the table Wednesday.”
When asked how Southern improves in that area in the days leading up to the tournament, Crenshaw said he’ll meet with his bullpen.
“We’ll talk, have some meetings, don’t be afraid to have some tough conversations,” he said. “Let them know they’ve got to be better, and we expect them to be better.”
Southern’s confidence is high, and it remains hungry to keep proving itself. Whether it was among the league’s best or the No. 8 seed that just made the bracket, the Jaguars have the same mission: bring a SWAC trophy back to Baton Rouge for the first time since 2021.
“That’s always the goal,” Crenshaw said.