LAKELAND, Fla. – West Alabama's late push came up just short Thursday night as the Tigers fell 5-4 to, host, Florida Southern in the NCAA Division II South Region Pod 2, sending UWA to the elimination bracket.

The Tigers (32-24) got home runs from Joe Watkins and Bryce Newman and led as late as the seventh inning, but the Moccasins (37-13-1) used a go-ahead two-run homer from Mason Scott to take the lead for good in the bottom of the seventh.

Watkins opened the scoring in the top of the first with a solo shot to left, his 13th homer of the season. After Florida Southern tied it on a home run from Will Campbell in the second, Newman answered back with a solo blast of his own in the third to briefly restore the lead.

The Mocs responded with a two-run homer by Nick Rabin later that inning to pull ahead 3-2, but Tanner Jones knotted things up in the fourth with an RBI single, scoring Jake Goolsby. Jones finished 2-for-3 with a double, a run, and an RBI.

UWA reclaimed the lead in the top of the seventh as Will Wood lifted a sacrifice fly to center to score Jones, making it 4-3. However, Scott's two-run shot in the bottom half gave Florida Southern the lead for good.

Starter Maxwell Schumacher was solid through 6.1 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits with five strikeouts. Gates Pee (3-2) took the loss in relief, after surrendering the deciding homer. Florida Southern's Sachem Ramos (11-2) earned the win, while Casey O'Dell closed out the final two innings to notch his third save.

West Alabama totaled nine hits, including multi-hit efforts from Jones and Goolsby, while committing no errors defensively.

The Tigers will now face six-seed Delta State in an elimination game Friday at 1 p.m. CT (2 p.m. ET) at Henley Field in Lakeland, Fla. The Statesmen enter Friday's game on a six-game losing streak and losers of seven of their last ten.