BATON ROUGE, La. – Southern University scored in four straight innings as the Alcorn State University baseball program dropped a 6-1 non-conference meeting with the Jaguars (3-6) Tuesday night at Pete Goldsby Field.
Brendly Martina scored the only run for the Braves (4-5) on a solo homerun in the top of the third. The junior shortstop hit 1-for-3 with the run and RBI.
Devin Walden went 1-for-3 with a walk and
Kyle Jenkins finished 1-for-4 with a double.
Hunter Wilson led the defensive effort with six putouts and a pair of assists.
Bukhari Brown (0-2) took the loss after giving up six runs, five of them earned, on 12 hits and a walk. The junior out of Byram, Miss. recorded two strikeouts and faced 25 batters in 24 at bats through 4.1 innings.
Tyler Smith came in for 2.2 innings of relief and
Regynold Johnson tossed 1.0.
"From a defensive standpoint, we didn't do the things that we needed to do to be able to execute to get us out of an inning," said head coach
Bretton Richardson. "We had the opportunities to do it when plays were there to be made, but we didn't make a play. I've said it before, any time we're playing a baseball game, three or four plays is what it's going to come down to. If you make those three or four plays, you have an opportunity to win a ball game. If you don't, you're probably going to come out on the losing end."
Southern brought in the first run of the game in the home half of the second. Michael Wright singled and reached second on an error. Tyler LaPorte reached on a fielder's choice as Alcorn got Wright trying to take third and Brown induced a Javeyan Williams fly out to center. A single to center would put runners on the corners, though, and another single through the right side made it an early 1-0 SU lead.
Alcorn answered in the top of the third. With two down, Martina smacked his second homer of the season over the fence in left-center to put the Braves on the board. The hosts regained control in the bottom of the frame with two runs on four hits. The Jags singled and dropped back-to-back bunts to load the bases. Wright would hit into a 6-4-3 double play, but the run crossed the plate and SU had two outs with a Jaguar standing on third. A LaPorte single to center then made it 3-1 through three innings played.
The Jags added a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth to jump out to a 6-1 advantage. Alcorn's best opportunity to rally came in the seventh with two away as
Brandon Barna reached on an error by the SU shortstop and moved up to second. The junior outfielder then advanced to third on a wild pitch, Walden walked and stole second, and
Edward Jackson drew a base on balls to load the bases. A Southern pitching change put an end to the threat, however, as Austin Haensel got Martina to fly out to right.
In the ninth, Jenkins reached on a throwing error by the third baseman and took second.
William Thomas came in to run and moved up to third on a ground out. Alcorn was unable to bring him in, though, as another ground out brought the game to a close.
The Braves will open SWAC play at the end of the week as the team heads to Montgomery, Ala. for a three-game series at Alabama State. Game one between the teams is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start Friday at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex.
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