ITTA BENA, Miss. –
Ron Frost threw a no-hitter through the first six innings and
Waldyvan Estrada went 4-for-5 with five RBI as the Alabama State baseball team defeated Mississippi Valley State 9-2 in the final game of their three-game SWAC series at Magnolia Field.
The Hornets (10-17 overall, 5-4 SWAC) bounced back from a one-run loss in the final game of Saturday's doubleheader to win two of three games in the series over MVSU (6-18, 6-6).
Frost pitched eight innings, allowing just two hits, one unearned run, walked three and struck out five. Trey Lacy led off the seventh with a double to right center field to break up the no-hitter.
“We got the series win,” said head coach
Mervyl Melendez said. “We had a disappointing loss yesterday, but we bounced back today and took care of business. I thought Frost threw the ball extremely well, threw a lot of strikes and kept them off balance. A lot of the credit goes to him. He didn't allow his first hit until the seventh inning. Our guys scored early. We scored three runs in the first inning and I think that set the tone.”
Richard Amion walked, stole second, and advanced to third on
Einar Muniz' infield single to begin the game.
Richard Gonzalez' sacrifice fly scored Amion to put the Hornets ahead. After
Jordan Mims walked, Estrada tripled to right field, scoring Muniz and Mims to give the Hornets a 3-0.
Alabama State broke the game open with four runs in the third. With the bases loaded, Mims reached on an error, allowing Amion and Muniz to score and increase the ASU lead to 5-0. Estrada then hit a two-run single to center, scoring Gonzalez and Mims to give the Hornets a commanding 7-0 lead.
After Mississippi Valley scored a run in the fourth, Estrada's single in the fifth scored Gonzalez to push the Hornet lead to 8-1.
“He is seeing the ball very well,” Melendez said of Estrada, who is now hitting .313 for the season. “He made some adjustments at the plate this weekend and did some of the things we've talked about. Hopefully he can piggyback on that with the mid-week game against Troy and then games this upcoming weekend against Alcorn State, the defending Southwestern Athletic Conference champions. We still have a lot of business to take care of and need to take it one game at a time.”
Gonzalez and
Leo Rojas each had two hits for the Alabama State, which will open a four-game home stand with the aforementioned game against Troy at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex.
