STARKVILLE, Miss. – The Alcorn State University baseball program could not answer hot hitting by Mississippi State as the team fell 17-1 in the non-conference meeting Tuesday night at Dudy Noble Field.
Justin Barna hit 1-for-3 and scored the lone run for the Braves, who fall to 6-13 on the season.
Kyle Jenkins and
Brandon Barna also went 1-for-3, with Jenkins earning an RBI.
Nicholas Hayes-Saltare batted 1-for-2 and drew a pair of walks, while
William Thomas hit safely in a pinch hit.
Regynold Johnson took the loss after giving up six runs on seven hits and three walks in 2.0 complete innings.
Zachary Perez tossed 3.0 innings of relief and
Razedrick Winters and
Bukhari Brown also made appearances.
The Bulldogs (11-10) broke open the scoring with five runs on six hits in the bottom of the first. After a leadoff triple and a shot to right made it 2-0, the home team put runners on second and third on a double to left center and a single through the left side. MSU then added three more on consecutive wild pitches, a double that dropped in shallow center, a single, and a fielder's choice.
MSU made it 6-0 in the second on a sacrifice fly with runners in scoring position. After a walk put runners on the corners, Johnson got out of the inning with a strikeout looking. Perez would take over pitching duties in the bottom of the third and the Bulldogs greeted him with a solo homerun to right. A walk and a double down the left field line pushed the score to 8-0. The Bulldogs then drew a walk and cleared the bases with a double to the wall in left center. Alcorn turned a double play to end the damage as
Devin Walden caught a fly out to right and the Braves won an appeal at second as the MSU baserunner failed to tag up.
Alcorn strung together a pair of two-out hits in the top of the fourth. Jenkins hit a hard grounder to third that the Bulldogs couldn't field, and Hayes-Saltare drove the first pitch he saw through the left side. The Purple and Gold couldn't take advantage of the opportunity, though, as MSU got B. Barna to fly out to right center.
After MSU plated three more in the fifth, the Braves finally got on board in the sixth. J. Barna reached on a throwing error by the third baseman and advanced to second on a wild pitch. A Hamilton groundout to short moved Barna up to the third, and the senior center fielder touched home on a Jenkins sacrifice fly to center.
The Bulldogs brought in three in the seventh and one more in the eighth for the final tally.
Alcorn is back in action tomorrow as the team plays a 1 p.m. game at Tougaloo College.
#FearTheBrave
