The Alabama State baseball team returns to action at home this weekend when the Hornets host Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne (IPFW) in a three-game series.
Alabama State (14-8) will hosts the Mastodons (6-10) Friday and Saturday night at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. Saturday is Hometown Heroes Day, as all police, fire and military personnel are admitted free in uniform or with valid ID. Sunday is kids' day, and all kids run the bases after the game.
The Hornets look to bounce back from a disappointing 10-2 loss at Auburn Tuesday night in which the Hornets, according to head coach
Mervyl Melendez, perhaps didn't have the right thought process going into the game against the Tigers.
“I think we need to have a much different mindset,” Melendez said. “The game of baseball is played on the field, not outside of the field. So regardless of who we're playing – good or bad, great numbers, bad numbers – we have to play the game the right way. I didn't think we played the game the right way Tuesday. There were some plays we didn't make, and also on the mound we didn't pitch as well as we had in the past. We need to clean it up. We need to have a different mindset, and we can't play down or up to whatever opponent we play. We need to be steady and concentrate on us, rather than who we play against.”
Melendez is known for scheduling a wide-array of opponents during his time as Hornets' head coach, some as known as UC-Irvine, South Alabama, Oklahoma and Arizona to lesser-known teams like Gardner-Webb and IPFW.
“When we got here, schedules were done several years in advance,” Melendez said of the SWAC schedule, in which this is one of two open weekends during the 10-week league slate. (The Hornets will travel to face Arizona on the second open date weekend April 26-28). “You're really at the mercy of who has weekends open. We had a weekend open, IPFW had a weekend open, so we matched it up. They are a team that is going to be hungry to play down south, so we're looking forward to a good weekend.”
Alabama State, in the midst of six consecutive non-conference games before returning to SWAC play next weekend against Mississippi Valley State, will look to get back on track at home, where the Hornets are 10-4 at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex.
“We practiced on some specific things that we need to do better,” Melendez said. “Basically, we're concentrating on the little things. Beyond taking batting practice, and taking a lot of ground balls and all the daily things, we're also concentrating on the little things – bunt defense, first-and-third situations, executing run downs. Those things are the recipe for championship-winning teams, and that's what we need to be better at, the little things.”
