March 18, 2006

Final Stats

ITTA BENA, Miss. - Alabama State's struggles in Southwestern Athletic Conference play continued over the weekend as the Hornets dropped a doubleheader to Mississippi Valley State - 8-2, 4-3 - at Delta Devils Stadium on Saturday.

Sunday's series finale was rained out and will be made up at a later date. Still, ASU has now lost all seven of its conference contests and is 6-14 overall.

In game one, Selmon Pearson drove in single runs on sacrifice flies in the first and third innings to stake the Hornets to a 2-0 advantage. The Delta Devils would tie the game in the bottom of the third and broke it open with a five-run fifth. Bama State starter Cecil West gave up a leadoff homer to Corey Littleton, then proceeded to walk or hit six of the next eight batters before being pulled in favor of JoMarlon Ford. By the time the inning ended, Mississippi Valley had only one hit but had taken a 7-2 advantage.

The Hornets fell behind early in game two and had the tying run on in the top of the seventh but were unable to pull out the victory.

Starter Josh Froneberger started slow, giving up three runs in the first three innings. But from there, he settled down, striking out eight in a complete-game performance and allowing only four hits.

Behind 3-0 going into the fifth, ASU finally was able to get to Valley starter Darren Dinger. Terry Givens and Jake Paramore both had run-scoring singles to cut the Hornets' deficit to one. The Delta Devils would tack on another run in the bottom of the frame but Bama State would add another run in the sixth as Joshua Clemons would drive in Pearson with a single that made the score 4-3.

ASU gave it one more try in the top of the seventh against MVSU's Ryan Roberson. With one out, Paramore doubled to left field in front of big hitters Anthony Hall and Pearson. But the duo could not get the job done and the Hornets came up one run short.