Alcorn Game Notes
LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University baseball program renews it heated rivalry with the Jackson State Tigers this weekend in a three-game series at Braddy Field.
Alcorn (6-17, 1-7 SWAC) has been top-tier team in the SWAC when it comes to fielding percentage (.948), homers (13), strikeouts per nine innings pitched (7.4) and triples (7).
Senior starting pitcher
Carlos Lopez enters the series ranked fourth all-time in school history in career strikeouts with 203. He needs 17 more to break Steve Easter's mark of 219 and one more to tie for third with
Jahborus Smith. He has totaled 31 punchouts in 32.1 innings of work in 2019.
Junior
Travaris Cole (who missed last weekend's series against Missisippi Valley State and the game at Grambling on Tuesday with an injury) leads the Braves in batting average (.371), RBIs (20), total bases (44), slugging percentage (.629) and home runs (4) while placing in the top-three among Alcorn hitters in hits (26), doubles (4) and triples (1). Cole has ten multi-hit games, five multi-RBI games which are both tops on the team.
The Southwest Mississippi Community College transfer has been the Braves' most reliable offensive threat in his first season, as he currently is top-five in the SWAC for batting average (.371), hits per game (1.44), homers per game (0.22), RBIs per game (1.11) and slugging percentage (.629).
Freshman
Tristin Garcia has stepped in and shined brightly for Alcorn, as he has the most hits (27) on the team while in the top-three in average (.342), runs scored (17), doubles (4), RBIs (14), homers (2) and total bases (39).
Three different Braves have on-base streaks of five or more as junior
Jordan McGowan leads the way (9), followed by senior
Brandon Barna (6) and junior
Kyle Jenkins (5). Barna is the only Braves hitter with a significant hitting streak, as he's currently at five.
Brandon Barna is three hits away from 100 in his career. He'd become the 48th player in school history to reach that milestone. Barna is tops among Braves hitters in doubles (5) and triples (2) while being in the top-third for homers (2), total bases (38) and hits (23).
Junior
Brandon Rembert has been heating up for the Braves, going 17-for-42 over the club's last 11 games which equates to a .405 batting average with eight runs scored, five doubles, five RBIs and a home run over that span.
Redshirt junior closer
Austin Atwood has put the finishing touches on a majority team's six victories, as he's second in the SWAC with four saves.
Jackson State (11-17, 4-5) was tabbed to finish second in the SWAC East Division, grabbing six first-place votes. The Tigers are currently in fourth.
The Tigers enter the contest having had an up-and-down last two weeks, winning four straight before dropping its next three games against Division I competition.
Junior Jaylyn Williams and senior Raul Hernandez are a legitimate one-two punch for JSU as they both have batting averages over .325, are the top-two Tigers in hits (34 & 32) and have a combined 56 RBIs between them.
On the mound, Garth Cahill and Nikelle Galatas are the workhorses of the staff, as both pitchers have made 11 appearances and both have given up less than a .210 batting average against. Cahill leads the club among pitchers with multiple innings pitched with a 2.34 ERA and Galatas is second with a 3.17 ERA.
Alcorn and Jackson State met six times in 2018, with the Tigers taking five of six in the series.
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