BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – The Alabama State baseball team split Saturday's doubleheader at Gardner-Webb, winning the first game 7-0 and losing the nightcap 14-10.
In the opener, T.J. Renda (3-1) pitched eight innings, allowing just five hits, walking one and tying a career-high with eight strikeouts.
Richard Gonzalez,
Leo Rojas and
Darrion Pedro each went 3-for-5 in the game, with Pedro hitting his first home run of the season and coming up a double short of hitting for the cycle.
After taking an early 4-0 lead in the nightcap, the Hornets allowed 13 runs in the second and third innings before battling back over the final five innings. Rojas went 4-for-5 in the nightcap with two runs scored and three RBI, while Estrada went 3-for-3 with four runs scored and an RBI.
Alabama State (7-15) and Gardner-Webb (12-8) conclude the four-game series Sunday at Noon (CT).
GAME 1: Hornets 7, Gardner-Webb 0: Gonzalez, Rojas and Pedro combined for nine of the Hornets' 15 hits. Rojas and Pedro each had two RBI.
Alabama State scored single runs in the second-fifth innings. Rojas' RBI single scored
Jordan Mims, who reached on an error, to give ASU a 1-0 lead. Mims' RBI single in the third scored
Richard Amion to extend to a 2-0 lead. In the fourth, Amion singled to right to score
Ryan Epperson to give ASU a 3-0 lead.
Pedro homered to left field in the fifth to give the Hornets a 4-0 lead. Alabama State sealed the victory in the ninth with back-to-back RBI triples by Pedro and Rojas.
“We swung the bats very well,” head coach
Mervyl Melendez said. “The pitchers are going to make mistakes, whether it's on our side or their side. We took advantages of their mistakes, they left the ball up, and we were able to put a good barrel on the baseball. We got some needed base hits, timely base hits and scored some runs early. When you can put pressure on a team like that, a lot of times it's going to work in your favor.”
Renda tied a career-high with eight strikeouts and combined with
Armando Ruiz to throw the first ASU shutout since Apr. 2, 2011, when the Hornets, behind 11 strikeouts from
Anthony Ricciardi, blanked Alabama A&M 11-0.
“T.J. was on today,” Melendez said. “He really kept them off balance. He did a good job. You can't say enough about the effort he had. When they don't score any runs, you only need one and we scored seven. He was mainly the reason we were able to be patient at the plate. We had some good innings offensively because we knew he was on.”
GAME 2: Gardner-Webb 14, Hornets 10: A four-run second inning staked the Hornets to an early lead. Rojas (two-run single) and
Marcus Swint (one run) had run-scoring hits, and an RBI groundout by Epperson put the Hornets ahead 4-0.
However, Hornet pitching struggled, as a combination of six walks and two hit batsmen over the second and third innings led to 13 Gardner-Webb runs.
“When the pitcher is struggling, you have to make plays behind him,” Melendez said. “I thought the key to the second inning was the ground ball to shortstop with a runner on first that we didn't get the lead out at second base. We bobbled the ball, couldn't get him out, and then they scored four runs. We have to make plays when the pitchers are struggling and we didn't do a good job in that inning or the next inning.”
Alabama State chipped away at the deficit, scoring once in the fifth, three in the seventh, and two in the ninth. ASU outscored the Bulldogs 6-1 over the final five innings, and left six runners on base in scoring position in the final six innings.
“I'm not dissatisfied about the effort with the runners left in scoring position because we put ourselves in position,” Melendez said. “We never gave up, and as I said Friday, I want this team to be known for never giving up and always having a chance to win the ball game. We were down 13-4 at one point and ended up within a few base hits of tying the game. I'm very, very happy with the effort in the second game, because we could have folded. They could have scored 20 runs and we could have only scored four. We kept coming back, and the guys never gave up.”
