Joseph Camacho pitched seven strong innings, and
Manny Rodriguez had four hits to lead Alabama State to an 11-2 win Saturday night at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex.
Making his first career start, freshman Camacho allowed two runs and five hits, walked one and struck out four in his first career start. He allowed single runs in the fourth and seventh innings, throwing 60 of his 94 pitches for strikes.
“It's back-to-back good performances by our pitching staff,” head coach
Mervyl Melendez said of Camacho's effort, one night after T.J. Renda's no-hitter in the season opener. “I thought Joe pitched really well, especially in the elements. It's extremely cold here tonight. Sometimes the pitcher doesn't get in rhythm, but I thought he threw the ball well and located his pitches. That was the key. He kept them off balance, and eventually the offense came alive later in the ball game.”
Rodriguez had an RBI single and later scored in the three-run fourth inning that gave the Hornets a 4-1 lead. In the seventh, Rodriguez hit a two-run double to left field and later scored on a wild pitch in a five-run inning that extended the Alabama State lead to 10-2. In the eighth, Rodriguez' RBI triple to left-center field scored
Emmanuel Marrero with the final run.
“Manny's making great adjustments at the plate,” Melendez said. “He's finally getting in a rhythm and that's a big plus for us. Him being good and getting key base hits is going to mean a lot, not only in upcoming games but for the rest of the season. Getting success out of Manny is going to be big, and it was the case tonight.”
Dillon Cooper went two-for-three with a run scored,
Richard Gonzalez drove in three runs, and
Richard Amion scored three times and stole four bases as the Hornets scored at least 11 runs and had 10+ hits for the second straight game.
The rubber game of the series is Sunday at Noon.
