The Alabama State baseball team opens a nine-game homestand with a four-game weekend series against Northern Kentucky Friday at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex.
 
The Hornets (7-6) and Northern Kentucky (4-7) of the Horizon League play Friday at 6 p.m., a Saturday doubleheader starting at 1 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m., with live stats on bamastatesports.com.
 
Alabama State is coming off splitting a two-game midweek series against Bowling Green in the Perfect Game Challenge. Carlos Ocasio had five hits in seven at-bats, including a pair of home runs in the series, as the Hornets have now homered in nine straight games and 10 of the last 11 contests. The 11 runs and 13 hits in Wednesday's victory tied season highs.
 
The Norse split a four-game series against Western Illinois last weekend. It's the first season in the Horizon League for NKU, which previously played in the Atlantic Sun Conference and began playing Division I Baseball in 2013 after moving up from the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
 
"This is an atypical week, since we are playing six games this week," Alabama State head baseball coach Mervyl Melendez said. "Northern Kentucky is a new team on our schedule, but what we know is they are familiar with playing good teams and have played well against them."
 
The games against Northern Kentucky are also part of eight straight non-conference games for the Hornets and kicks off the longest home stand of the season. ASU will host Samford Tuesday at 6 p.m., and Florida A&M Wednesday at 5 p.m. before returning to conference play next weekend hosting Mississippi Valley State.

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