The Alabama State baseball team split Saturday's doubleheader against Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne (IPFW), winning the opener 2-0, before falling in the nightcap, 4-3 at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex.
ASU (15-9) took game one behind the complete-game shutout pitching effort of T.J. Renda, and a leaping catch at the wall by
Dillon Cooper in the ninth for the final out, robbing what would have been a game-tying homer. In the second game, the Hornets rallied to take the lead with two eighth-inning runs before IPFW (7-11) scored two in the ninth to take the win.
“We can't win many games when you score five runs in 18 innings,” head coach
Mervyl Melendez said. “Once again, we need to figure out how to play better on Saturdays.”
Game three of the series is Sunday at 1 p.m. on Kid's Day, where all kids run the bases free following the game.
GAME 1 - Hornets 2, IPFW 0: Renda (3-0) was stellar in the opener, allowing just three hits, walking none, and striking out 10 in throwing 114 pitches, 79 for strikes.
The Hornets scored in the second on a one-out RBI single by
Dillon Cooper, scoring
Waldyvan Estrada, who led off with a single. Alabama State added a run in the fourth on a solo home run by
Emmanuel Marrero, his first of the season.
The Mastodons threatened to tie the game in the ninth, but Steve Lowden's bid for a game-tying home run was stymied by Cooper's leaping catch at the wall to end the game.
“He did very well,” Melendez said of Renda's second shutout of the season. “The only reason we won was because of his effort and a great play in the outfield by Cooper to end the game, robbing the home run.”
GAME 2 – IPFW 4, Hornets 3: Alabama State scored twice with two outs to take the lead. Marrero singled with one out and stole second base. With two outs,
Richard Amion walked. After Marrero advanced to third on a wild pitch,
Branden Castro reached on an infield single and advance to second on a throwing error, scoring Marrero and Amion all the way from first base to give the Hornets a 3-2 lead.
However, IPFW scored two in the ninth. Evan VanSumeren's sacrifice fly with one out scored Clay Hathaway, who walked, was sacrificed to second and stole third. With two out, Caleb Fenimore homered off the left field foul pole for the game-winning hit.
