Alcon Baseball Evens Series with 8-6 Win

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Alcorn scored multiple runs in three different innings while Kayden Sutton picked up his first win of the season on the mound as the Braves fended off an Alabama A&M comeback 8-6 in the second game of a three-game Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Baseball series on Saturday afternoon inside Bulldog Field in Huntsville, Alabama.
 
Kayden Sutton earned the win for Alcorn, improving his record at 1-3 on the season. The right-hander worked 7.2 innings, allowing six runs (four earned) on 10 hits while striking out one. Hayden Konkler came on in relief and worked the final 1.1 innings to close out the victory.
 
Evan Hurlburt took the loss out of the bullpen for Alabama A&M (6-14, 1-1 SWAC), as he worked two innings on the bump, giving up two runs on two hits with two strikeouts and one walk.
 
Alcorn (3-15, 1-1) got to work scoring early, adding a pair in the top of the opening frame.
 
Braves centerfielder Rayfield Adams III reached on a walk and eventually scored on a Keatan Hawk single. A throwing error by AAMU first baseman Colin Mason would allow Jaylyn Bennett to cross for the Purple and Gold, giving the Braves a 2-0 lead.
 
The Bulldogs responded immediately in the bottom half when catcher Wilmer Cuevas lifted a sacrifice fly to plate Keondre Fields and cut the deficit to 2-1.
 
The Braves extended their lead to 4-1 in the fourth inning.
 
Nico Garcia doubled and later scored on an Adams single, and a passed ball brought home another run, respectfully.
 
The Bulldogs pitching staff issued four walks in the frame, helping Alcorn keep the line moving.
 
Alabama A&M's most dramatic sequence came in the sixth inning, when Chris Walker laced a two-out double to right field that cleared the bases and drove in three runs, tying the game at 4-4. Walker finished the day 1-for-4 with three RBIs for the Bulldogs.
 
Alcorn responded emphatically in the top of the seventh, pushing across three runs on a combination of stolen bases, hit batters, and a pair of AAMU errors.
 
First baseman Cooper Harris and right fielder Keatan Hawk each scored on unearned runs for the Braves, and Garcia added a sacrifice bunt RBI to give the Braves a 7-4 cushion. Adams tacked on another run – his third of the game, in the eighth with an RBI single, pushing the lead to 8-4.
 
The Bulldogs made things interesting in the bottom of the eighth when a two-run scoring error off the bat of Keondre Fields brought the hosts within 8-6, but Konkler was able to strand two runners and end the threat. The Bulldogs once again made it tricky in the ninth with a pair of runners on, but a fly out to right ended the threat and ballgame.
 
Adams was the offensive catalyst for the Braves, going 1-for-3 with three runs scored, two walks, and a stolen base. Harris had a 1-for-2 day with three walks and a run scored. Garcia contributed a double and a sacrifice from his catcher position.
 
For AAMU, Miles Jackson went 3-for-4 with a stolen base, and Tarris Murray added two hits including a double. Fields finished 1-for-5 with three RBIs. Th Bulldogs used five pitchers in the loss. Antonio Torres worked 3.2 innings in relief, striking out three but issuing three walks and surrendering two runs.
 
The teams meet back at Bulldog Field for the rubber game of the series on Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
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