AUBURN, Ala. – The Alabama State baseball team lost a close 7-5 game Wednesday on the Plains at Auburn.
After leading 3-0, and 4-3, the Hornets nearly erased a three-run deficit late in the game, but could not tie the ball game, leaving the bases loaded in the ninth inning.
The Hornets scored three first-inning runs with five hits, all with two outs.
Einar Muniz,
Waldyvan Estrada, and
Chris Biocic each singled to load the bases.
Hunter Allen then drilled a two-run single to left field, scoring Muniz and Estrada. P.J. Harris then singled to left field, scoring Biocic to give the Hornets the early lead.
After Auburn tied the score with two runs in the fourth, and one in the fifth, Alabama State regained the lead in the sixth. Allen doubled to left center and Harris reached on an infield single to lead off the inning. After a fielder's choice grounder in which Allen was out on the play,
Yamil Pagan singled to right field, scoring Harris for a 4-3 Hornets' lead.
However, Auburn scored four times in the sixth to take the lead for the first time at 7-4.
Harris' solo home run to straight away center field, his first career homer in the eighth, made the final margin.
In the ninth, all with two outs, Muniz, Estrada, and Biocic singled to load the bases, but a strikeout ended the late-game rally for the Hornets.
"I thought we battled back well," Alabama State head coach
Mervyl Melendez said. "We got in a three-run deficit and I thought our guys never game up. We got off to a good start, and in one inning our pitching couldn't hold the lead. However, I'm very proud of our guys. We made adjustments at the plate throughout the game, and made some good plays. We just have to concentrate on those little things as we head toward the weekend and continue to battle. I'm very proud of our guys and the effort they showed tonight."
Muniz, Estrada and Harris each had three hits in the season-high 14-hit attack for Alabama State, with Harris and Allen each with two RBI.
Alabama State plays its home openers this weekend with a Saturday doubleheader and Sunday single game vs. Florida A&M. First pitch is 1 p.m. both days at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex.
