The Alabama State baseball team returns to action Wednesday night against the UAB Blazers at Young Memorial Field in Birmingham at 6 p.m.
Baseball gameday central on Bamastatesports.com will have links to live stats, live audio and live video from the UAB website.
Alabama State (4-9) is on a three-game winning streak after sweeping Alabama A&M to open Southwestern Athletic Conference play. This is the second meeting between ASU and UAB this season, as the Blazers won 3-2 on Feb. 21 at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex.
“We know every team we play midweek is going to be a tough opponent,” head coach
Mervyl Melendez said. “Not only do we have the challenge to play well on weekends because it's conference play, but we also play quality teams in non-conference games. We know UAB (8-3) is a very good team. The game was close the last time, but that game doesn't matter anymore. We have to play well in order for us to win, and our team is starting to understand the little things. If we play well, the outcome will take care of itself.”
Statistically, the Hornets have continued to improve at the plate as the season has evolved, leading to increase run scoring and hit production. Alabama State scored 30 runs on 31 hits in the weekend series against AAMU, including single-game season highs in runs (14) in game one and hits (14) in game two.
“I'm really happy with the progress we've made,” Melendez said. “We're playing pretty good baseball, but we need to cut down on the errors. On paper, we make a lot of mistakes on the defensive side and we need to clean that up. However, I'm still happy with the effort and even with as many errors as we have made, our guys have battled through those to stay in a lot of ball games. Statistics, right now, we have to throw them out the window. It's about doing whatever we need to do as a team to win ball games.”
It was a tough start to the season for Alabama State, which began with nine losses in the first 10 games despite being competitive in most of them. Winning has given the young Hornets a boost of confidence, but Melendez cautions the team also must maintain focus.
“I think every time you win a ball game, the confidence level rises automatically,” Melendez said. “However, we also need to be cautious with that also. We can't have a false sense of security because we've won some ball games and feel good about ourselves. We need to continue to battle, and continue to get better and improve as the season goes on. It is a long season, and we have things we need to do better. We are clear on what the goal is, and we really have to do it one game at a time and one day at a time. Our guys are excited; they do have a little bit of confidence, and now we have to top that by playing well when it really counts.”
