PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – The Alcorn State baseball team outhit Prairie View A&M 7-6, but the Braves could not pull out a victory Friday afternoon in the opening contest of the three-game series. Alcorn fell 4-1 to the Panthers on a cloudy day at Tankersley Field.
Two Alcorn players connected for multiple hits against PV. Diego Lopez-Molina and Ben Luckett both had 2-for-4 games. Lopez-Molina recorded the Braves only RBI, and Nathan Gamez scored the only run.
Jermel Ford took the loss on the mound. The sophomore from Hattiesburg, Miss., threw the entire contest for two strikeouts, four walks, six hits, and four runs (three earned).
Prairie View scored all four of its runs before the Braves were able to prevent a shutout with a run in the seventh inning. The Panthers collected their first run in the bottom of the first inning as a sacrifice fly brought in Garrison Weiss, and Alex Martinez collected the RBI.
Prairie View extended its lead to 2-0 in the second as a bases-loaded walk brought in Blake Redman. A third runner came in in the third as Zachary Trevino hit a single to bring Benjamin Ybarra home.
The Panthers fourth and final run was scored in the fourth. Sebastian Coria connected for a single to score Martinez.
The fifth and sixth innings went by scoreless. Alcorn broke its scoring drought with a series of hits in the seventh. Gamez led off the frame with a double to left field. Jamaal Green pushed Gamez to third base with a single, and Lopez-Molina singled to score Gamez.
The Braves would continue to play hard for the remainder of the game, but they could not put more runs on the board. Alcorn dropped the contest 4-1.
The two teams will be back on Tankersley Field on Saturday, April 22, for the second contest of the series. The first pitch is set for 3 p.m.
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The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is considered one of the premier HBCU conferences in the country. Currently, it ranks among the elite in the nation in terms of HBCU alumni playing with professional sports teams.
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