2018 SWAC Tournament Central
Game 3 vs. #1 Texas Southern: Game Notes | Radio | Live Stats
Game 5 vs. #3 Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Radio | Live Stats
NEW ORLEANS – The 2018 Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship Tournament begins Wednesday as the Alcorn State University baseball program, the number four seed from the East Division, meets the top seed out of the West, Texas Southern, in a 3 p.m. opening-round game at Wesley Barrow Stadium.
Also in Bracket A are Jackson State, the two seed from the East, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the three seed from the West. JSU and UAPB open the tourney with a 9 a.m. contest tomorrow. The winners of both games will square off at 3 p.m. on Thursday, while the losers will look to avoid elimination in a 9 a.m. affair Thursday. This year's championship game will be televised live on ESPNEWS, with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. The winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
"We're definitely excited for the new-found life," said head coach Bretton Richardson. "Being in the tournament, there are no records that matter. All we have to do is play consistently in all three phases of the game and get hot at the right time. Texas Southern is going to put the ball in play and run, so we're going to have to make the routine plays. I look forward to a good tournament of baseball."
The Braves (12-37, 7-17 SWAC) concluded their regular season last weekend with three losses at Mercer.
Alcorn is led at the plate by Justin Barna's .321 batting average. Jordan McGowan is hitting .311 and A.J. Makarewicz follows at .290. Barna and Der'Vincent Hamilton have 45 and 44 hits, respectively. Hunter Wilson has brought in 29 runs and Wallace Rios Jimenez ranks ninth in the nation in total walks (47) and walks per game (0.96). Defensively, Kyle Jenkins has 286 putouts and 30 assists with four errors for a .988 fielding percentage.
Carlos Lopez (4-3) leads the bullpen with a 4.38 ERA and was named to the All-Conference Second Team on Monday. The junior from Barranquitas, Puerto Rico threw 72.0 innings across 12 starts and enters the tourney leading the league with 87 strikeouts. Jahborus Smith (2-11) is at a 6.06 ERA with a save and Bukhari Brown (1-8) has a 9.69 ERA. Razedrick Winters (2-2) has tossed 29.1 innings in 18 relief appearances with three saves.
The Tigers (23-26, 17-6) took 2-of-3 against Grambling State to wrap up their regular season. Kamren Dukes, the SWAC Player and Hitter of the Year, leads TSU's offense with a .394 average, 84 hits, 21 doubles, and two triples. Also hitting over .300 are All-SWAC First Teamers Gaudencio Lucca (.382) and Christian Sanchez (.346), who has a league-best 16 homers and 52 RBIs. The Tigers are a threat on the base paths as they have stolen 104 bags on 132 attempts. In the field, Ricky Urbano has 253 putouts with 28 assists and five errors (.983).
Aron Solis was voted the Pitcher of the Year after posting a 1.99 ERA and a 7-1 record in SWAC play. He finished with an 8-3 record overall with three complete games. Peyton Schneider (3-6) has a 5.58 ERA and Michael Villanueva (3-1) follows with a 6.07 ERA. Chris Suarez (1-1) owns a 2.36 ERA with four saves.
The two programs last met in the first round of the 2015 SWAC Tournament, with TSU earning a 5-2 decision. Alcorn jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second as Rios Jimenez singled up the middle to score Moses Charles from second, but TSU answered with three runs in the bottom half of the frame. SWAC Newcomer of the Year Collin Carroll went deep to close the gap 3-2 in the sixth, but top-seeded TSU scored another two runs in the eighth for the final tally.
#FearTheBrave
