The Alabama State baseball team will play its final Southwestern Athletic Conference series of the season this weekend hosting defending champion Jackson State.
The Hornets (31-15 overall, 19-2 SWAC) and Tigers (25-19, 7-11) will play in a doubleheader Saturday and single game Sunday beginning at 1 p.m. both days at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex.
For only the second time since beginning the season on February 14, Alabama State did not play a mid-week game. Playing five games a week for a majority of the 2014 campaign, the Hornets have played 46 games in 66 days through this past Sunday's win over Alabama A&M. The series sweep over the Bulldogs clinched the Eastern Division title for Alabama State for the first time since 1994.
"It's good in the aspect that some guys had time to heal up and get back to 100 percent," head coach
Mervyl Melendez said of the time off. "However, we all like playing. Practice is practice. You get to work on the areas we need to improve on, and we have taken advantage of that time. As I've stated many times, we are a work in progress. We are still getting better. We're still trying to adapt to the whole concept of playing against the game and doing the little things well."
A vital key to the Hornets' success in conference games has been the weekend starting pitching rotation of junior
T.J. Renda (5-3, 2.71 ERA), sophomore
Joseph Camacho (8-1, 1.63 ERA), and redshirt freshman
Tyler Howe (5-0, 2.61 ERA). The trio has combined to post an 18-4 record with a 2.29 ERA.
"If you were to have one word to describe their performance, it would be consistency," Melendez said. "They've given us good innings, and very seldom have we had to go into the bullpen early, which is good. However, we must continue to work. This is not where it ends, nor where it stops. They have to continue to give us good innings. That's the key to doing well on weekends – not having to use the bullpen early."
This is the second series meeting between the teams who finished 1-2 in the division standings one year ago. Alabama State swept all three games in Jackson on March 22 and 23, winning by scores of 8-6, 6-1, and 9-7. Currently in third place in the East, Jackson State is coming off a mid-week win over Southeastern La.
"What better way to measure yourselves at the end of the year than against the team that is defending their title," Melendez said of Jackson State. "We all know what they bring. They have one of the best pitching staffs in the conference (third in the SWAC with a 3.87 ERA). We know the challenges ahead this weekend. Being 19-2 and clinching the division should not take precedent over winning games, regardless of where you are in the standings. We know how important this weekend is. It's important for us to play well, and leave all the energy on the field, and try to build momentum toward the SWAC Tournament (beginning May 14).
This weekend begins a stretch of eight games in nine days to end the regular season for Alabama State, which will play at Jacksonville State Tuesday and host South Alabama Wednesday before a three-game weekend series at the University of Miami.
"We want to see if we can do the little things well in games," Melendez said. "We've targeted specific areas in this past week, and starting Saturday we'll see if we can take that practice into a game with great intensity on the mound and defensively. If we can do the little things, we should play well over these final eight games. It's a road that's finally here; the end of the season that you worked so hard for since the fall. We want our guys to be the strongest at this point and want them to be at their best. With all the time in the weight room, running, and pushing each other has brought us to the point in the season that it's all about (championship tournament). This is when we have to perform."
