Alcorn Game Notes
LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University baseball program will host the SWAC West Division champion Southern Jaguars on Wednesday evening in the team's final home and regular season contest at 6 p.m.
As a team, Alcorn (14-29, 7-16 SWAC) currently ranks in the top-35 in the NCAA for triples per game and the top-40 for triples. The Braves have hit 0.35 triples per game (3rd in SWAC) and 15 overall (4th in SWAC) in 43 games played.
The Braves are also in the top half of the SWAC in doubles per game (1.53) and strikeouts per nine innings (7.7)
Senior
Carlos Lopez enters the game as Alcorn's all-time career strikeout record with 235. He passed the previous mark of 219 set by Steve Easter with a strikeout in the top of the ninth against Tougaloo on April 17th. Lopez has 63 punchouts in 2019, good for third in the SWAC.
Junior
Kyle Jenkins has been heating up at the dish, notching a hit in ten of his last 12 ballgames while hitting for a .378 batting average, scoring 13 runs, accumulating four doubles, a triple, 18 RBIs and five homers over that timeframe.
Jenkins is now fifth in homers per game (0.21) and total home runs (9) in the SWAC, while pacing the club in slugging percentage (.533), RBIs (36) and total bases (80). The catcher from Jacksonville, Florida needs one more round-tripper to become the eighth player in program history to hit double-digit homers in the season.
From April 26-28 in a three-game set with Mississippi Valley State, Jenkins went 7-for-13 (.538 average) with four home runs, seven runs scored, a double, a triple and three walks. In the series finale, Jenkins set career-highs for hits (4), home runs (3), runs scored (5) and RBIs (6) in a 14-12 series-clinching victory, earning him SWAC Hitter of the Week honors for April 29.
Freshman
Tristin Garcia has provided a spark as the primary leadoff hitter, as he is the club leader in hits (52) and triples (3 - 6th in SWAC).
Garcia is also among the Braves top-three in batting average (.349 - 9th in SWAC), runs scored (30), doubles (9), total bases (73), slugging (.490) and steals (5) while fronting the squad with 19 multiple-hit outings.
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 118 career base knocks which places him at 36th all-time.
Junior
Brandon Rembert paces all Braves hitters with 0.68 walks per game, a .353 batting average (8th in SWAC) and a .465 on-base percentage (5th in SWAC) while placing third or better in runs scored (38), hits (47), doubles (9), walks (27) and slugging (.504).
Junior closer
Austin Atwood has registered a win or save in nine of the team's 14 victories, as he's second in the SWAC with six saves while also picking up a team-high three wins.
Other notable Braves on the SWAC leaderboards include senior
Kirt Cormier with 1.00 runs scored per game (6th) and 28 walks (10th), senior
Jose Fernandez who has 52 strikeouts (9th), and junior
Jordan McGowan with three sacrifice flies (10th).
Cormier leads the purple and gold with a current 15-game on-base streak while both
Brandon Rembert and sophomore
Jamey Fabre have reached safely in seven straight.
Scouting the Southern Jaguars
Southern (28-20, 18-6 SWAC) have clinched the SWAC's West Division and will face the East's #4 seed, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, in the first round of the tournament next Wednesday night.
The Jaguars have won four of its last five games and will play at the University of New Orleans on Tuesday night before traveling to Lorman. The baby blue and gold have been dominant at home (16-6) but have been slightly more vulnerable away from Baton Rouge with a 9-13 road record.
As a team, SU has been an elite offensive unit, ranking top-20 in the nation for 10 different categories. On an individual scale, Tyler LaPorte has been the ringmaster of the hitting powerhouse, as he's third nationally in hits (82), fifth in hits per game (1.71) and top-50 in batting average (.380), doubles (16), runs scored (52), RBIs (55), RBIs per game (1.15), total bases (119), sacrifice flies (5) and stolen bases (20).
On the mound, Connor Whalen has been as close to automatic as you can get, leading the conference in saves for most of the year with his current total standing at eight.
Alcorn and Southern have played two previous times this season with the Jaguars winning both contests, 12-9 and 11-1.
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