Alcorn Game Notes
LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University baseball program will travel to Alabama State this weekend for a critical four-game series with the top team in the SWAC East.
Alcorn (10-19, 4-9 SWAC) has been a top-five team in the SWAC for hits allowed per nine innings (11.52), home runs (16), strikeouts per nine innings (7.5), and winning percentage (.345).
Senior starter
Carlos Lopez enters the series ranked second all-time in school history in career strikeouts with 216. He needs four more to break Steve Easter's mark of 219 set in 2012. He has 44 punchouts in 2019, good for fifth in the SWAC.
Freshman
Tristin Garcia (who missed the last four games with an injury) has made an immediate impact for the Braves offense, as he has the most hits (31) and best slugging percentage (.500) on the team while in the top-three in average (.352), runs scored (19), doubles (5), RBIs (17), total bases (44) and on-base percentage (.418). He also paces the squad with 11 multiple-hit performances and is among the NCAA's top-35 in toughest to strike out at 12.6.
Senior
Brandon Barna became the 48th player in school history to reach the 100-hit milestone on March 30 with a two-RBI single in the top of the sixth versus Jackson State. Barna presently stands at 105 career base knocks which places him in 41st, five behind Sylvester Webb for 40th.
Barna is tops among Braves hitters in hits (31), doubles (6), triples (2), RBIs (20) and total bases (47) while being in the top-third for batting average (.272), homers (2) and slugging percentage (.412). He also has the most multi-RBI games on the squad with five.
Junior
Brandon Rembert has been red hot at the plate for the purple and gold, going 25-for-64 over the club's last 17 games which equates to a .390 batting average with 16 runs scored, six doubles, 14 RBIs and two home runs over that span. Rembert is currently 12th in the conference with an overall batting average of .354 and has reached base safely in six consecutive ballgames.
Junior
Micah Walker presently sports a modest five-game hit streak and leads Alcorn with five stolen bases on the year.
Junior closer
Austin Atwood has put the finishing touches on a majority team's 10 victories, as he's second in the SWAC with five saves while also picking up two wins, second-best on the club.
Alabama State (16-15, 10-3 SWAC) was projected to win the SWAC East Division and is currently leading Alabama A&M by 2.5 games for the top spot. The black and gold have actually been a better road team through 31 games, as they are one game over .500 as the visitors (7-6) and one game under in Montgomery (7-8).
The Hornets enter the contest losers of two straight non-conference tilts with Florida A&M at home and at Troy. ASU is an elite unit nationally in regard to runs scored (227) and stolen bases (52) as they are among the top-50 in the NCAA in those categories.
Senior starting pitcher Darren Kelly has been a dominant presence at the front of the Hornets rotation, currently placing inside the top-10 in the country for ERA (1.18) while residing in the top-five for hits allowed per nine innings (4.03) and WHIP (0.71).
Senior outfielder Yamil Pagan has been the ultimate tablesetter while also providing solid pop at the top of the lineup, placing inside the top-15 in the NCAA for runs (40) and runs scored per game (1.33). Pagan is also among the top half of the SWAC in walks (24), hits per game (1.40), homers (7), total bases (72), and slugging percentage (.600).
Alcorn and Alabama State have met twice in Lorman this season as Alabama State took both games by scores of 10-6 and 10-5, respectively. The game on Sunday will be considered a home game for the Braves as the postponed game from March 10 will be made up at 2 p.m. on Saturday as a doubleheader.
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