The Alabama State baseball team will open a five-game road trip at Mercer Tuesday at 5 p.m. and Auburn Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Both games can be heard online free of charge at bamastatesports.com/showcase.
Alabama State (19-15 overall, 10-5 SWAC) is looking to bounce back from a tough weekend in which it lost the final two games of a home three-game weekend series against Alcorn State. Sunday's loss was among the most disappointing of the season, as the Hornets lost a five-run lead in the final two innings in a 9-7 defeat. And while the immediate assumption would be that pitching and defense would be behind the reasons for the blown lead, Head Coach
Mervyl Melendez has taken a total view on the weekend. Offensively, despite scoring two runs in the first inning, Alabama State left the bases loaded in both the first and ninth innings.
“After thinking a lot about the things that happened, especially yesterday, it was disappointing, but then again, we need to learn from it,” head coach
Mervyl Melendez said. “There were a lot of things we could have done better. We blew a five-run leave, and our pitchers did not do the job in holding a five-run lead. However, in college baseball, you need to separate yourselves, and score more than seven runs, especially when you have opportunities. We didn't have good at-bats late in the game. As I stated Sunday, we are kind of stagnant offensively. That contributed to them coming back and giving them hope.”
It was the final home conference series for the Hornets, as the final nine conference games among the final 19 regular season games will be on the road. With a large portion of the season still to be played, Melendez understands the nature of the sport and is quick to linger too much on the past weekend.
“It is baseball,” Melendez said. “Unfortunately, as upset as you can be after a game like that, there's another game approaching tomorrow, another game after that Wednesday, and then we are back in conference play this weekend (at Alabama A&M). There's a lot of season left. I said it from the beginning – it's a long season, and there's going to be bumps in the road. I said last week it was early for us to count on staying at the level we were on (after moving into a first-place tie in SWAC play). I told the guys if you just sit on it, someone is going to grab it from you. We just need to continue to work.”
This week, the Hornets face Mercer (25-10) and Auburn (19-12) for the second time this season. Alabama State gave Mercer its first loss of the season, 4-0, back on Feb. 19, while Auburn beat the Hornets 10-2 on March 19.
“We have to get back to being more aggressive offensively, defensively, and on the mound,” Melendez said. “I hope we see a different Alabama State team. By what we experienced this past weekend, we need to change our mindset and have a different attitude. I hope our guys understand what it takes to play at the Division I level. You can't concentrate on opponents' wins and losses and batting averages. You have to play your game, and you have to worry about yourself and nothing else. If you put too much emphasis on your opponent and not your performance, unfortunately the outcome will not be in your favor most of the time.”
