JACKSON, Miss – The Alabama State baseball team lost both games of a Saturday doubleheader at Jackson State, 4-3 in 13 innings and 6-3, in Southwestern Athletic Conference games at Robert Braddy Field.
Alabama State (now 4-13 overall, 3-3 SWAC) lost all three games of the series to the Tigers (9-6, 5-1), who now lead the Eastern Division.
“I'm very disappointed, needless to say,” head coach
Mervyl Melendez said. “I don't believe that our guys understand the importance of playing well day in and day out. The excuse about us being young and freshmen, I don't buy it and I'm not going to use it. We've got to come out ready to play, whether the players are in the first year of college or the last year of college, we still have to swing the bat, we still have to play defense and we still have to pitch, regardless of what you are. We didn't come ready to play, we didn't come ready to win. We played good enough to stay in every single ball game, but that's not what this team needs to be about and what this program needs to be about.”
GAME 1 – Tigers 4, Hornets 3 (13): For the second straight game, a throwing error allowed the winning run to score for Jackson State.
The Hornets led off with a pair of runs in the first inning on a
Waldyvan Estrada sacrifice fly scoring
Ryan Epperson, and
Richard Amion's steal of home to give ASU a 2-0 lead.
With the score tied at 2-2 in the seventh, Amion scored from second base on a stolen base and wild pitch to give the Hornets a 3-2 lead. However, JSU scored in the eighth on a sacrifice fly to force extra innings.
Epperson went two-for-five at the plate to lead ASU.
GAME 2 – Tigers 6, Hornets 3: Alabama State took a 2-1 lead in the second inning on
Darrion Pedro's RBI double, scoring
Jordan Mims, and later Pedro scored on
Leo Rojas' sacrifice fly.
Jackson State took the lead for good with a single runs in the third and fifth innings and broke the game open in the sixth inning with three runs, taking advantage of two ASU errors.
Pedro went 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Amion went 2-for-4 with an RBI in game two.
The Hornets return to action with single games Tuesday and Wednesday at Florida A&M.
