The Alabama State baseball team concludes a four-game homestand Tuesday night when the Hornets host Mercer in a battle of 3-0 teams.
Alabama State and Mercer play at 6 p.m. at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex. Bamastatesports.com will have live stats of the contest, with inning-by-inning updated on Facebook and Twitter @asubuzz.
Alabama State is coming off a three-game home sweep of Chicago State. The Hornets outscored the Cougars 39-4 over the weekend, highlighted by T.J. Renda's no-hitter in the opener Friday night, and the Hornets out-hitting Chicago State 43-12.
Renda's no-no was the catalyst for the starting pitching, which delivered three quality starts as the Cougars batted just .138 in three games with 33 strikeouts. Offensively, the Hornets batted .371 for the series, with 13 extra-base hits and a pair of home runs, highlighted by
Richard Amion's inside-the-park grand slam Friday night.
“Our intensity, energy and focus were phenomenal,” said
Mervyl Melendez, who earned his 400
th career win in the season opener. “Consequently, our defense, pitching, and hitting excelled this past weekend.”
Tuesday's game is the first of two meetings between the Hornets and Mercer this season, as the teams will play in Macon on April 9. The Bears got off to an impressive start to begin the season, winning the Snowbird Baseball Classic title with wins over Ohio State 6-5 in 10 innings Friday, St John's 13-5 Saturday and Notre Dame 5-4 Sunday.
“Mercer has a great program and played very well this past weekend,” Melendez said. “We know tomorrow will be a good test for us and we need to be ready to play.”
