HOUSTON – Alcorn looks to rebound this weekend when the Braves travel to Houston, Texas, taking on the Houston Christian Huskies in a three-game series at Husky Field beginning Friday, Feb. 20, at 6:30 p.m.
 
Alcorn is looking to bounce back after a 19-0 defeat at the hands of fourth-ranked Mississippi State in midweek, while the homestanding Huskies of Houston Christian are looking to rebound from a 4-3 loss in their midweek game at home to Sam Houston.
 
THE SCHEDULE
Friday, Feb. 20
6:30 p.m. – at Houston Christian | Houston, Texas | Husky Field | ESPN+ | Live Stats | Tickets
 
Saturday, Feb. 21
2 p.m. – at Houston Christian | Houston, Texas | Husky Field | ESPN+ | Live Stats | Tickets
 
Sunday, Feb. 22
2 p.m. – at Houston Christian | Houston, Texas | Husky Field | ESPN+ | Live Stats | Tickets
 
IN THE RANKINGS
▪ Alcorn is not ranked in any of this week's five major polls
▪ Houston Christian is not ranked in any of this week's five major polls
 
ALCORN VS. HOUSTON CHRISTIAN PROBABLE STARTERS
FRIDAY, FEB. 20
Alcorn
LHP Devin Kriley (0-1, 22.50 ERA)
Houston Christian
RHP Joshua Caravalho (0-1, 30.37 ERA)
 
SATURDAY, FEB. 21
Alcorn
RHP Jacob Wingard (0-0, 3.86 ERA)
Houston Christian
RHP David Lopez (0-1, 9.00 ERA)
 
SUNDAY, FEB. 22
Alcorn
RHP Kayden Sutton (0-0, 9.00 ERA)
Houston Christian
RHP Ben Smith (0-1, 9.00 ERA)
 
STATS & NOTES
▪ Under the direction of second-year head coach Carlton Hardy, Alcorn has 23 newcomers across the 2026 roster.
▪ Graduate student Jaylyn Bennett recorded Alcorn's only hit in midweek with a single at Mississippi State.
▪ Outfielder Rayfield Adams III, affectionately known as Trey, leads the Purple and Gold in batting average, with the Byram, Mississippi, native holding a .400 mark on the season.
▪ Adams also leads the team in hits (6) and is tied for the team lead in stolen bases (2).
▪ Kanious Davis, known by all as Spanky, is tied atop the team with two stolen bases in two attempts. He also has a .273 batting average with three runs scored.
▪ In his first season with the program, junior right-hander Jacob Wingard has thrown 4.2 innings and fanned three batters on the year. He owns a team-low ERA of 3.86 thus far on the campaign.
▪ Pitcher José Cherena has struck out three batters in a pair of appearances out of the bullpen for the Braves.
▪ Sophomore Keaten Hawk has delivered five RBIs on the year, including four against Jackson State last weekend.
 
ALCORN VS. HOUSTON CHRISTIAN SERIES
▪ This will be the first-ever meeting between Alcorn and Houston Christian in baseball.
 
QUOTES FROM COACH HARDY
"In college baseball, you don't have time to feel sorry for yourself. You push what happened to the back of your mind quickly and you move on. We've got a great opportunity this weekend, and our focus has shifted completely to Houston Christian. That's the beauty of this game. You always have another chance to go out and compete, and it's usually pretty fast turnarounds too."
 
"It's always an interesting challenge when you face a program for the first time. There's a lot of scout work that goes into it, and your coaching staff has to do their homework. We respect what Houston Christian has built over there, and we know they're going to come ready to play."
 
"When you haven't seen a team before, there's always that element of the unknown. But at the end of the day, we focus on ourselves. If we execute our game plan on both sides of the ball and play Alcorn Baseball, then we'll let the rest of the chips fall where they may. But first and foremost, we have to focus on the little things that will allow us to get better each game."
 
"I want to see us compete with energy and purpose from the first pitch to the last. Our guys know what's at stake. We want to make a statement this weekend and show people who Alcorn Baseball is against a well-respected program like Houston Christian. That starts Friday."
 
SCOUTING HOUSTON CHRISTIAN
▪ The Huskies of Houston Christian are under the direction of Clay Vanderlaan, now in his second year at the helm in Houston.
▪ HCU comes into the weekend series seeking its first win of the 2026 campaign, as the Huskies enter 0-5 overall.
▪ The Huskies dropped a four-game series away to Louisiana Tech last weekend, while falling in their home opener to Sam Houston on Tuesday evening.
▪ Jeremy Rader leads the team in batting average with a .389 mark at the dish, using seven hits and two RBIs in 18 at-bats.
▪ Three different Huskies have two or more doubles, including Rhett Hendricks (.353 avg) and Anthony Avalos (.375 avg).
▪ Relief pitcher Louis Castano has appeared in three games for HCU thus far, holding an ERA of 1.80 in five innings of work on the bump.
 
RECAPPING ALCORN'S LAST GAME (at No. 4 Mississippi State)
No. 4 Mississippi State scored 13 runs across the opening three innings Wednesday evening as the Bulldogs took down Alcorn 19-0 in midweek baseball action at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville, Mississippi.
 
Vytas Valincius opened the night's scoring for Mississippi State, as the left fielder's sacrifice fly to right field allowed leadoff batter Bryce Chance to score from third. Two batters later, first baseman Blake Bevis delivered his first home run of the campaign – a three-run shot just inside the left field foul pole, to push the Bulldogs lead out to 4-0.
 
MSU plated five runs in the second inning with Bevis once again delivering a big blow, this time courtesy a two-run scoring single through the left side past the glove of Alcorn third baseman Jamir Holloway diving to his left. That put the Bulldogs up 7-0.
 
With the Bulldogs up 11-0 in the third, catcher Andrew Raymond singled through the right side to plate Bevis and Drew Wyers, respectively.
 
MSU added another run in the home-half of the fifth courtesy a Peter Mershon sac fly to center which was deep enough to score Valincius and give the Bulldogs a 14-0 lead.
 
The Bulldogs plated another five runs in the sixth to cap the night's scoring.
 
Alcorn got a hit in the top of the first inning from designated hitter Jaylin Bennett. However, the bats were silent the rest of the night after the Glenn Heights, Texas native tallied his third hit of the season.
 
The win was credited to Bulldogs reliever Maddox Miller, as he went one inning, striking out all three batters he faced. Bulldogs starter Tyler Pitzer did not factor into the decision despite going two frames on the hill, allowing just one hit and fanning three. Meanwhile, the loss went to Alcorn starter Caden Wade as he worked just one inning, giving up four runs on three hits and two walks.
 
UP NEXT
After the weekend series at HCU, the Braves stay on the road traveling to Louisiana-Monroe for a midweek non-conference affair on Wednesday, Feb. 25, for a game slated to begin at 1 p.m.
 
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