HUNTSVILLE, Ala. –  The Alcorn State University baseball program got a stellar offensive outing from
Tristin Garcia but not much else in a 9-2 setback against Alabama A&M on Friday.
Braves (3-5, 3-4 SWAC) pitchers piled up 13 strikeouts, 11 courtesy of starting pitcher
Jose Fernandez and the other two coming off the right arm of
Raylan Wagner.
Fernandez took the loss put pitched well enough to win, giving up two earned runs and five hits during his seven innings of work.
Garcia did a little bit of everything as a Braves batter, cracking three hits including a double while swiping a bag.
Hunter Wilson matched Garcia by reaching base three times as well, once via a single and the other two times with free passes.
Jamil Betancourt one-upped Garcia with a triple for his only base knock.
Brandon Rembert made his season debut in game eight after sitting out with an injury, going 1-of-4 as the designated hitter.
Tyler Daniels drove in a run the painful way with a bases loaded hit-by-pitch and added a single as well.
Tyler Smith garnered his RBI with a perfect example of situational baseball, lofting a sacrifice fly to deep centerfield to score
Kyle Jenkins who had walked earlier in the inning.
Alabama A&M (1-5, 1-0 SWAC) went on an extra-base hitting spree as 60% of its hits went past first base while the Bulldog hurlers combined for 14 punchouts.
Jose Figueroa was demonstrating crazy command and a filthy pitch repertoire, sitting down 12 hitters, walking two and shutting out Alcorn over seven frames.
Each extra base hit was tallied by a different AAMU ballplayer including four doubles, a triple and a round-tripper.
RJ Farrell dropped a three-run bomb while Dylan Hall had two ribbies on a double and a single to account for five of the club's nine runs scored.
The first two innings portrayed a sign of unfortunate things to come for the Braves from Mississippi, as the home nine put four unanswered runs on the board and added a fifth in the seventh before Alcorn cracked the run column.
The Baseball Braves showed signs of a comeback in the eighth as the first four batters all reached base by way of two singles, a walk and a RBI hit-by-pitch for Daniels. A strikeout followed then a sacrifice fly and saw Alcorn get the tying run to the plate but he struck out as well.
Alabama A&M salted the game away with four in the eighth to win its conference opener, 9-2.
The Purple and Gold will attempt to halt its current five-game slide Saturday at 2 p.m. inside Bulldog Field.
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NOTES
- Alcorn fell in the matchup but still are way ahead all-time, fronting Alabama A&M at 98-43.
#FearTheBrave
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