LORMAN & JACKSON, Miss. –  The Alcorn State University baseball program started its game with Mississippi Valley at 6 p.m. on Friday in Lorman and ended it around 7:30 p.m. on Sunday in Jackson with the good guys clubbing 18 hits and scoring 14 runs in the contest.
The Braves (6-9, 6-7 SWAC) received a career-night from
Tristin Garcia and saw
Kyle Jenkins move one rung up the ladder to sixth on the school's career homers leaderboard with 16.
Garcia set new career benchmarks with 5 RBIs (3 on a RBI triple alone) and 4 runs scored plus tying his Alcorn-high of four hits (4-for-6) which he has done five times in three years on "The Reservation". Currently, the Louisville, Kentucky native has the third-best single season batting average in program history at .469 to help buoy his career average of .373, the 13th-best mark of all players with 150 at-bats.
Jenkins moved into a sixth-place tie with
Collin Carroll (2015-16) on the university's all-time dingers list with a laser beam into the trees surrounding Smith-Wills Stadium during the fourth to score Garcia.
Freshman
Raylan Wagner picked up his first career victory in Purple and Gold in his starting debut, tossing four frames and striking out six Delta Devils plus his six Ks tripled his previous season-high.
Jose Fernandez finished the ballgame with 4.2 sparkling innings pitched, notching his first save in four campaigns in Lorman and fanning six visitors as well.
Tyler Daniels was a menace at the dish and on the bases, tying his personal-best of four hits and setting a new high watermark of three steals to go along with his third multi-RBI game of the year.
Khalil Smith tied his season-best of three runs scored, coming around each time he reached base via two walks and a double.
Jamil Betancourt and
Tyler Smith each registered their second multiple hit outing of the year while
Garrett Palladino had a clean game in the field with a season-best four assists at shortstop.
Mississippi Valley State (0-13, 0-10 SWAC) had its best offensive output of the 2021 campaign, scoring a season-high nine runs on 12 hits.
Jason Jimenez had an outstanding weekend notching three hits and three runs with all of his base knocks being of the double variety, driving in two ribbies as well.
Ty Washington fronted the men from Itta Bena with three RBIs and scored once with a two-bagger.
The game started with a bang while still on campus as The Valley recorded more runs in the first inning (4) than it had in any single game this season (most runs scored coming in was three).
Alcorn would answer with two of its own in the bottom half thanks to a Garcia RBI single up the middle and a sacrifice fly off the bat of
Hunter Wilson.
The Braves got a three-up, three-down second as Wagner induced all ground balls and then the bats went back to work for the Purple and Gold. The home nine went on a scoring spree in the second, pushing across six courtesy of four RBI singles, a wild pitch, and a ground out.
With one out in the top of the third, lightning delayed the contest and ultimately sent both teams headed to their bus/clubhouse until they would meet again Sunday evening.
Almost 48 hours later, the game would resume 80 miles northeast inside Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson.
The two clubs would trade a run in the third and the fourth saw both sides saw fireworks galore that began with three scores by Valley. The Baseball Braves would rally for five in its half of the fourth on a three-run triple by Garcia and a two-run round-tripper.
From the fifth inning on, both offenses went ice cold as neither side would cross home plate until the final out of the evening saw MVSU score but the runner was gunned down at second base on a perfect relay from
Tyler Smith to Palladino to Garcia, sealing the win (14-9).
Alcorn improved to 165-89-1 against Mississippi Valley State and will actively search for future dates to makeup the two postponed games that were unable to be played.
The Baseball Braves will look to hand rival Jackson State its first SWAC loss of the season on Friday, heading to the capital city for a three-game series in a pivotal matchup for both squads.
#FearTheBrave
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