The Alabama State baseball team will play its first road Southwestern Athletic Conference series beginning Friday night when the Hornets play at Jackson State. The teams will play a single game Friday at 6 p.m. and a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.
The first-place Hornets (4-10 overall, 3-0 SWAC) will look to maintain the momentum of their conference-opening sweep against Alabama A&M. The Hornet starting pitching trio of T.J. Renda,
Joel Alvira and
Ron Frost combined to throw 19 2/3 innings, allowing only six runs and scattering 20 hits while striking out 18 Bulldog batters.
“The name of the game is pitching,” head coach
Mervyl Melendez said. “If you pitch well and keep the game within scoring distance, anything can happen at towards the end of the ball game. We want to be able to get quality innings from our starters. We want to be able to keep the defense on their toes. When you start walking batters, the defense tends to get back on their heels a little bit. We need them to throw strikes and keep everyone involved to be able to have quick innings defensively.”
ASU faces a Jackson State team (6-6, 2-1) coming off an impressive 3-1 victory Tuesday over Southeastern Louisiana. The Tigers won two of three games at Mississippi Valley last weekend to open SWAC play. JSU has also posted wins over Eastern Illinois and Morehead State.
“I think we need to concentrate on what we've done well and fix the things we haven't done as well,” Melendez said. “We need to concentrate on our team more than the opponent. We know they are a quality ball club that has some quality wins so far. We're going to do whatever we are capable of to play good baseball.”
Freshman catcher
Richard Gonzalez has been named to the watch list for the Johnny Bench Award, given to the top Division I catcher in collegiate baseball. Gonzalez, who has started every game this season, all but one of them behind the plate, is currently batting .275, is tied for the team lead with five extra base hits, leads with three triples, and leads ASU with a .431 slugging percentage. He is currently on a six-game hitting streak and is batting .375 in his past nine games.
“We believe when it's all said and done, Richard will be one of the premier catchers in the nation, not just in the southeast or in this conference,” Melendez said. “As a freshman, he's a very smart catcher. We've actually let him call the game a few times and he has done a really good job. Defensively, I haven't seen a lot of catchers who block better than him. That's a lot to say for a freshman. His maturity level is beyond a freshman; he continues to grow and continues to get better. He's caught a lot of innings so far for us because he is a difference maker. He gives us the best chance to win and control the game from the catcher position.”
