MONTGOMERY, Ala. | After weeks of preparation, Alabama State hits the diamond this weekend in the Andre Dawson Classic, opening the season against Prairie View A&M Friday night.
"We are honored to be in this tournament," Alabama State head coach Jose Vazquez said. "We have been in this tournament before. Now with the new name – Andre Dawson Classic – it is going to be first class that is how Major League Baseball does things. That is why there are so many universities involved, and we are excited to be one of them and excited to be on national television on Saturday.
"But I think we are ready to go out and compete, we have a good group that has worked really hard. We feel good as a coaching staff as to who we have that is going to go out there, and represent Alabama State. It is just that time to go out there against someone else and see how we do. This is a good weekend and we play good competition and a different perspective, it will be a weekend where we play teams on the opposite side of the conference that will help us."
Alabama State (31-25 last season) was picked to win the East Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and had seven players selected preseason All-SWAC heading into the 2018 season. They will face a familiar foe in the Panthers in the first game of the weekend, a team that played and defeated twice last season at the conference tournament.
However, the Hornets will have to replace a majority of their pitching staff and will go with senior
Darren Kelly on Friday night against Prairie View A&M. Last season Kelly started one game for the Hornets and finished the season 0-1 on the mound. They will also go with junior college transfer
Darrius Wright on Saturday and freshman
Dalton Wilder on Sunday afternoon against UAPB.
"Doing this for this long, we lose some guys to the draft and graduation and someone has to step up," Vazquez said "It is no different this year, when you look at the numbers for the guys, they don't add up to how they have worked this offseason. We are expecting good things from them.
"We just have to play defense. No matter who pitches that is one thing we have to do, we have to throw strikes (way we want to approach the game) but we have to play defense regardless. And we have to have good at-bats. Everybody would love to have three games where the pitching staff would carry us, but that is not realistic, that is why it is a team sport. Just throw strikes and give us a chance that is all we are asking of our pitching staff."
Of the seven players who were named all-conference for the Hornets, six of those are hitters including three first team selections in
Gustavo Rios,
Cage Cox and
Joseph Estrada. The Hornets return 66.8 percent of their hits from a season ago and 72 percent of their run production from 2017.
"When you have experience, one of the things you as a coach is that there is less coaching that you have to do because those guys know our expectations and philosophy," Vazquez said. "You can concentrate on coaching the game and not just one particular play. They know how to make adjustments and want get caught up in the situation. We have a core of older guys and some younger guys, which is why in my opinion we feel so good about this team because they have pushed those older guys to the limit. The playing time they get, they have earned. I will give credit to this younger group, it will be fun to play with in the lineup with the versatility that we have."
The Hornets will be opening their second season under Vazquez who took over the program last season.
"It is never relaxing," Vazquez said. "When you are in this position, you want to make sure your guys are prepared. We have covered everything that the game will bring to us. The one thing we can't do is play, right now it is just getting the guys ready and then letting them go and do the job. I might appear that I am relaxed, and that is something that I want our guys to be and to be able to play loose but with a lot of intensity and passion. One thing we are always going to do is remember that they not only represent themselves, but they are representing ASU – that should be good enough motivation to go out there and compete."
The game is set for 7 pm Friday night for the season opener. The Hornets will also face New Orleans at 6 pm Saturday – game featured on MLB TV – and Sunday against UAPB at 12 noon.
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