ITTA BENA, Miss. – The Alcorn State University baseball program got its first complete game since May 18, 2017 from senior Jose Fernandez but MVSU shut down the Braves offense to hand the purple and gold a 3-2 defeat.
Fernandez (3-4) produced one of the best pitching performances of the campaign for Alcorn, hurling 8.0 innings while giving up only three runs (2 earned) on six hits and mowing down six Delta Devils in a tough luck loss.
Senior Brendly Martina was the lone Braves player to record an RBI, producing a pinch-hit RBI single in the top of the sixth to score junior Kyle Jenkins from second.
Freshman Tristin Garcia, junior Brandon Rembert, sophomore Jamey Fabre and freshman Andrew Meadows all tallied multi-hit contests for the boys from Lorman.
Fabre and junior Jordan McGowan each notched a stolen base on the day and all ten of the Braves base knocks were singles.
Starting pitchers Jose Fernandez and The Valley's Nicholas Johnson were clicking early as neither player gave up a run over the first two frames with Fernandez holding the Delta Devils hitless in that span.
MVSU would open the scoring in the bottom of the third via Willie Johnson's two-RBI double to right with another run coming across by way of an Aaron Barkley double later in the inning, 3-0 Delta Devils.
The Braves were able to make its first dent on the scoreboard in the fifth. Fabre led off the frame with a single back up the box, promptly stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error and then came home on another fielding error on a batted ball by freshman Jaden Smith to cut the gap to 3-1 MVSU.
Alcorn inched one spot closer with a run in the top of the sixth courtesy of a two-out pinch-hit RBI single by Martina to bring the Braves within one at 3-2 Mississippi Valley.
After giving up three runs in the third, Fernandez collected himself and proceeded to stop the Delta Devils in its tracks, allowing only two hits and two walks over the final five frames of work to go along with five strikeouts.
Unfortunately for the purple and gold, MVSU's pitching staff shut the visiting nine down as well, giving up one hit over the last three innings to seal win a low-scoring pitchers duel, 3-2 in a little over two hours of action.
Alcorn baseball will look to wake up the bats as game two gets underway tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. from Magnolia Field.
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