Braves Fall 4-1 in Shortened Season-Opener

NEW ORLEANS – Rain washed away any chance of a comeback attempt for the Alcorn State University baseball program as it fell to Grambling State 4-1 in five and a half innings Friday in the season-opener at Wesley Barrow Stadium.
 
Alcorn (0-1) struck first on a two-out RBI triple by senior Patrick McMahon in the first inning. It came after junior A.J. Makarewicz started the game with a walk. Senior Walter Vives reached on a fielder's choice and scored after McMahon roped a ball into right-center field.
 
Jahborus Smith (0-1) was nearly flawless on the mound going into the fifth inning. He sat down the first seven batters he faced. However, Grambling (1-0) struck for four runs on three hits and an error in the fifth.
 
Junior Kirt Cormier notched a strong start to the season as the designated hitter went two-for-two with singles to center and right fields.
 
Isaac O'Bear (1-0) was credited the win for Grambling after throwing 6.0 innings and allowing one run. He struck out five. Smith fanned four in 5.0 innings.
 
The Braves will look to bounce back Saturday at 2 p.m. when they take on Prairie View A&M. They round out the weekend Sunday at 3 p.m. against Southern.
 
Alcorn will play its home opener Monday at noon when it hosts Murray State at Willie E. "Rat" McGowan Stadium.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Bretton Richardson
On having one bad inning
"This is something we've talked about a lot going into the season. We've decided that when our pitchers work themselves into a jam that we want them to work themselves out of a jam. The leadoff walk starting the inning and it went downhill from there. He hit their No. 9 batter, then there was a ground ball to first that he didn't get over far enough. We need to correct the little things. At worst, it should have been a 2-1 ball game after that inning. These are the growing pains that we're going to go through at the beginning of the season but by the middle of the season we won't be having those type of innings. We're going to rely heavily on Jahborus this year. We need him, and all of our pitchers, to command the ball."
 
On having quality at-bats
"We've got some new guys in the lineup and I think we'll be able to hit a little bit. Hopefully our defense will continue to come around, but it's still a work in progress. We're going to continue to work hard in the batter's box, on the mound and defensively."
 
On the game being shortened by rain
"It's tough. We would have liked to continue the game obviously and try to mount a comeback, but unfortunately the weather didn't permit it. However, we'll be ready to go for tomorrow."
 
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