Alcorn Game Notes
Thibodaux, La. – The Alcorn State University baseball program will square off with the Nicholls Colonels on Tuesday and Wednesday in a non-conference home-and-home series. Both games will take place at 6 p.m., with the Tuesday game being in Thibodaux while Wednesday will be in Lorman.
Alcorn (4-10, 1-4 SWAC) has been solid on the offensive end, placing in the top-half of the SWAC in triples (4) and home runs (6). The team has done a nice job in fielding percentage (.954) and strikeouts per nine innings (7.6) as well, currently slotting in at third in the conference in both areas.
Senior starting pitcher
Carlos Lopez enters the series ranked fifth all-time in school history in career strikeouts with 195. He needs 25 more to break Steve Easter's mark of 219 set in 2012. He has totaled 23 punchouts in 24.1 innings of work in 2019 and will move into fourth place with one more strikeout.
Junior
Travaris Cole leads the Braves in batting average (.365), slugging (.519), hits (19), RBIs (13) and total bases (27) while among the top three Alcorn hitters in runs scored (9) and doubles (3).
Freshman
Tristin Garcia has been a revelation at the second base position for Alcorn, pacing the club in doubles (4), placing second in average (.340), smacking 16 hits and nine RBIs. He is currently riding a five-game hitting streak and reached base safely in ten consecutive games.
Redshirt senior
Kirt Cormier has been one of the toughest hitters to strikeout in the country as he ranks 30th in the NCAA at 16.7 and has reached safely in 13 straight appearances.
Senior
Brandon Barna is 9 hits away from 100 in his career. He'd become the 48th player in school history to reach that milestone. Barna is presently one of three Braves to have an average above .300, has knocked in 11 RBIs and is second on the club with 17 hits through 14 games.
Redshirt junior closer
Austin Atwood has put the finishing touches on a majority team's four victories, as he's second in the SWAC with three saves. He also picked up a win in his lone non-save situation appearance. Atwood is averaging 1.39 strikeouts per innings pitched.
Bukhari Brown was named the SWAC Pitcher of the Week on Monday, March 4. The senior from Byram, Mississippi started the final game in that weekend's SWAC opening series at Alabama A&M. He went 8.0 innings and allowed one run (zero earned) on seven hits and three walks. Brown struck out a season-high seven Bulldogs while holding the visitors to a .233 batting average. With the victory, he became the first Braves pitcher with multiple wins in 2019 as he improved to 2-0 in three appearances. His 4.58 ERA is the best among qualified starters for the purple and gold.
Nicholls (9-8, 2-1 Southland) was picked to finish ninth in the Southland Conference.
The Colonels have struggled over its last ten contests, dropping seven games during that stretch but were able to win its last two against conference foe New Orleans.
Brady Bell has been a nightmare for opposing pitchers at the top of the lineup, batting .379 with 25 hits and 13 RBIs. Austin France is tops on the squad with 17 RBIs and has 21 base knocks to go with it. The strength of the team has been the bullpen, as its top four relievers all have an ERA below 2.15 as well as eight pitchers overall with marks under 3.00 on the year.
Alcorn and Nicholls matched up earlier in the season on February 19 in at Ray E. Didier Field, with the scarlet and gray coming away with a 25-5 victory.
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