TUSCON, Az. – Missed opportunities hurt the Alabama State baseball team in its 8-2 loss at Arizona Friday night in the first of a three-game series at Hi Corbett Field.
Despite out hitting the defending national champion Wildcats 11-10, the Hornets (27-20) had at least one base runner through the first eight innings, but could only score twice against Arizona (26-14).
Richard Amion and
Waldyvan Estrada each had three hits for Alabama State, while
Einar Muniz had two with a run scored and RBI.
After stranding five runners on base through the first three innings and trailing 5-0, Alabama State scored twice in the fourth. With one out,
Emmanuel Marrero singled through the right side. After advancing to second on a passed ball, Muniz singled up the middle to score Marrero and advanced to third on a fielding error on the hit.
Marcus Swint's RBI groundout scored Muniz to cut the Hornet deficit to 5-2.
But that was as close as Alabama State would get, stranding two runners on base in the sixth, and missing perhaps the best chance to score in the seventh. The Hornets had two on and none out, and two on with one out, but could not push across another run, as the inning ended on a double play.
Arizona scored single runs in the fifth, seventh, and eighth innings for the final margin.
Game two of the series is Saturday at 8 p.m. CT, with the final game Sunday at 2 p.m. CT.
