Alabama State Edges Alcorn in Close 6-4 Affair

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – In a game that marked the midway point of the conference season, the Alcorn State University baseball program jumped out to an early lead, but Alabama State came back for a 6-4 final Sunday at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex.
 
The Braves (7-20, 3-9 SWAC) and the Hornets (14-15, 10-2 SWAC) were even in hits with nine apiece. Junior Wallace Rios Jimenez, senior Kirt Cormier and sophomore Brandon Barna each tallied two hits.
 
Rios also drew a pair of walks in the game and extended his league-leading on-base streak to 24. For the weekend, he went four-for-eight (.500) with a .692 on-base percentage.
 
Cormier increased his on-base streak to 15 games, and junior Der'Vincent Hamilton extended his hitting streak to nine with a single in the fourth inning.
 
The Braves got on the board first with a pair of runs in the third frame. Barna and Rios started it off with singles to center. Senior Walter Vives plated in both of them after a single to leftfield and a throwing error.
 
After ASU got one back in the bottom half, the Alcorn bats went back to work. Hamilton reached on an infield single, advanced to second after senior Patrick McMahon walked and to third on a wild pitch. Barna singled through the left side to score Hamilton and move McMahon to third. Rios knocked in an RBI on a hit to score McMahon and make it a 4-1 game.
 
The Hornets came back with one in the fourth and three in the eighth to go up 5-4. They added an insurance run in the sixth for a 6-4 score. The Braves couldn't muster a hit past the fourth inning.
 
Sophomore Carlos Lopez (3-3) tossed 5.0 innings and allowed four earned runs. Sophomore Conrado Skepple threw 2.2 scoreless frames and struck out a pair.
 
The Hornets were led by Gustavo Rios who hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning. Brandon Caples (1-3) fired 5.0 innings of no-hit ball in relief to pick up the win.
 
The Braves will go back to work when they travel for a mid-week game at Memphis at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Alcorn will have next weekend off from competition.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Bretton Richardson
Opening Statement
"It was a better effort today from our guys. We were able to get ahead, but unfortunately we weren't able to hold it. Sometimes though you just have to give credit to the other team. They had a big inning in the fifth where they scored three runs with a couple key hits including a home run so sometimes you just have to tip your hat."
 
On his thoughts of the conference season so far
"We have a lot of work to do. I don't think there's any other way to say it."
 
On Conrado Skepple
"We are still trying to figure out how we want to use him. He's been one of our guys that's been really effective for us. He has four saves on the year, but recently we haven't been able to get games to him for an opportunity to close it out. We're deciding whether or not we want to put him in the starting rotation. We have some time to think about it so we'll see what happens.
 
On Rios extending his on-base streak to 23
"He really battles and puts together good at bats. He doesn't swing at a lot of bad pitches and he gives himself a chance. We need to get a lot of our other hitters to have the same approach that he has."
 
On what needs to happen for this team to turn the corner
"Well, it's not so much from a physical standpoint. A lot of this game is played between the ears. Mentally, we have to be better. This is the same team that almost beat Arkansas and New Orleans. Though, sometimes when the ball doesn't bounce your way you can start to lose a little confidence in yourself. Mentally, we have to get back at it, stay focused and keep working hard. There's still a lot of season yet to be played and there's still time to turn this thing around."
 
#FearTheBrave