BATON ROUGE — Alcorn State defeated Texas Southern 7-6 to advance to the SWAC Tournament championship game.

The Braves (28-18) will play for their first ever SWAC Baseball Championship against the Grambling-Southern winner at 1 p.m. Sunday.

The top of the lineup helped set the tone for the Alcorn State offense.1-2-3 hitters Joshua Brumfield, Adrian Bowens, and Jabari Graham combined to go 6-for-11 with six runs scored.

Graham had two RBIs for the Braves, who advanced to the championship game for the first time since 2006.

However, Alcorn State needed every out, as the defending champion Texas Southern (24-29) would not go away.

The Tigers rallied from 5-2 and 6-3 and 7-4 deficits. Texas Southern chipped away with single runs in the final three innings and had the tying run at the plate with two outs as Earnest Rhone’s RBI single brought the Tigers to within one at 7-6

Alcorn reliever Tony Gonzales, who pitched the final four innings, struck out Texas Southern’s Michael Norris looking to end the game.

The Braves became the first SWAC team since 2006 to lose their first tournament game and advance to the title game. The last team to do it — Alcorn State and Head Coach Willie “Rat” McGowan Sr., who is retiring at the end of the 2009 season.