Braves Battle Bulldogs To The End In Defeat

STARKVILLE, Miss. –  The Alcorn baseball program fought valiantly against the #4 ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs, staying within striking distance the entire game in an 8-4 loss.

The Braves (2-3) were doubled up in the hit department (12-6) and left nine runners on base.

Redshirt senior Hunter Wilson rocketed his first home run since March 2018, slugging a 2-2 fastball into the seats. He did not play last season as he wore a medical redshirt.

Sophomore Tristin Garcia extended his on-base streak to ten games dating back to 2019 with a single in the fifth inning. He was the only Braves hitter have multiple hits.

Sophomore Tyler Daniels coaxed two more walks out of opposing pitchers, upping his total to eight in five games while scoring a run on a pickoff attempt by the MSU pitcher to first base.

Redshirt sophomore Andrew Meadows pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief, allowing only one hit over eight batters faced.

Mississippi State (6-2) piled up 18 strikeouts, the most thrown against Braves batters since 2013.

Starter Houston Harding led the Bulldogs with seven punchouts, while Chase Patrick (2-0) got the victory, striking out five.

Jordan Westburg went 2-for-3 with two walks, two RBI and a home run, scoring every time he reached base.

Brad Cumbest was the other MSU player to hit a long ball and Luke Hancock joined Westburg in notching multi-RBI outings with two as well.

The purple and gold began the afternoon by going three-up and three-down while MSU got on the board with an RBI fielder's choice to take a 1-0 lead.

Alcorn got only one hit in the second but it was a doozy as Wilson blasted a 363-foot shot into the tailgaters in right-centerfield as the Braves evened the score at one. Brad Cumbest wasted no time putting the Diamond Dawgs back in front, launching a breaking ball into the same vicinity as Wilson's went in the top half to reclaim the upper-hand, 2-1.

Daniels continued his patient approach at the dish this season, drawing his seventh walk in five games but was stranded at first. The maroon and white got a two-RBI single from Luke Hancock and were eyeing more with two runners in scoring position with nobody down. Starting pitcher George Osborne III was able to halt the bleeding, getting a strikeout, pop out and an easy ground ball to second to allow only the two runs to score as MSU upper the margin to 4-1.

The fourth started off promising for the boys from Lorman as senior Brandon Rembert led off with a walk before Cole reached on an error by the center fielder with an assist from the sun. The purple and gold could not capitalize with Bulldogs starter Houston Harding proceeding to strikeout the next three batters swinging to pick up his fifth, sixth and seventh punch outs of the afternoon. Lane Gordon came on to start the bottom of the fourth and breezed through the first two batters. MSU would use some two-out magic, getting a walk from Jordan Westburg and an RBI-double by Tanner Allen into the right field gap to widen the edge to 5-1.

Junior Jamey Fabre and sophomore Jaden Smith rang in the fifth inning with a bang, clanging two line drive singles over the outreached glove of the second baseman plus another walk by Daniels, his eighth on the year, to load the bases. Garcia would deliver in the clutch, lacing a two-RBI single to bring the Braves back to within two at 5-3. Daniels would score the fourth run of the ballgame by swiping home on a pick-off attempt by the pitcher at first base as the boys from Lorman closed the gap to one (5-4, MSU). Gordon once again sat down the first two Bulldogs in order before back-to-back base knocks got him in trouble with runners on second and third. The Southwest Mississippi CC transfer induced a 4-3 putout to end the inning.

Alcorn was retired in order in the sixth while Mississippi State looked to up its advantage as it had the bases loaded. Redshirt freshman Diego Lopez-Molina made sure the Braves kept the game within one, striking out Landon Jordan to survive.

Garcia got a hard-hit single back up the gut in the seventh but nothing more for the Braves half. MSU responded with opening up the contest a little bit as Rowdey Jordan contributed an RBI single and Jordan Westburg cranked a 410-foot two-run blast into the bleachers to make the score 8-4.

After the purple and gold went down swinging in its first two at-bats of the eighth, redshirt senior Jenkins drew a seven-pitch walk and redshirt senior Jordan McGowan shot a single past the diving first baseman to try to start a rally. Unfortunately for the Braves, another strikeout kept the score as is at 8-4.

Alcorn did its best to make the Bulldogs sweat in the ninth, as Garcia reached on an error and Rembert walked to bring senior Travaris Cole up to the dish. Cole grounded out to end the game and the Braves fell by a score of 8-4.

The Baseball Braves will open up SWAC competition at Jackson State this weekend with the first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday evening at Braddy Field.
 
NOTES
 
- Alcorn dropped to 0-17 all-time against the Diamond Dawgs.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Bretton Richardson
 
Overall Statement:
"Today was a tough day for us defensively and when you're playing a quality team like Mississippi State, they make you pay when you give them extra outs. We will learn from this and get better. We have a tough opponent in Jackson State this weekend, we will be ready to win the series."
 
#FearTheBrave