MONTGOMERY, Ala. | Jackson State scored a pair of runs early and was able to hold off Alabama State 2-0 in a Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) contest at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex Friday night.
"I thought Dalton (Wilder) was magnificent," Alabama State head coach Jose Vazquez said. "He gave us a chance tonight, and he went out there and competed. We had to raise his pitch count up a little bit tonight, but he did everything we asked him to do. We just have to do a better job of hitting with runners in scoring position, and especially with two outs."
Wilder (0-3) finished the night with 112 pitches for the Hornets in his first start since the Southern series, after being moved to the Friday night role after the
Darren Kelly scratch. The freshman allowed eight hits, but only one earned (two runs altogether) with five strikeouts.
Jackson State (13-4, 6-1 SWAC) was able to get on the board in second after an infield hit deep in the hole at short by Dezmond Chumley to lead off the inning. He came around to score on a double by right by the next batter in the order, Robert Perteet, to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
The Tigers were able to extend the lead in the third after Jesus Santana reached on a fielding error and advanced to second when Chumley reached on an error as the next batter, before Santana moved over to third on a double play. He would later score on a wild pitch to push Jackson State ahead 2-0, which is all Nikelle Galates (5-0) would need as he went six innings and allowed four hits with three strikeouts.
Jose Tirado came on for the final three innings to record his first save.
Alabama State (10-8, 4-3 SWAC) had their chances in throughout the game, despite getting just four hits. The Hornets had runners in scoring position in each inning from the second to the sixth, but were unable to push a run across.
"We have our work cut out for us in this series," Vazquez said. "Jackson State is a very good ball club, they can hit and they can; they can also pitch as we saw tonight. The weird thing about this game is that anything can happen, and we get another chance to come out tomorrow night and compete and try to get a win."
The series resumes Saturday night at 6 pm at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex when the Hornets will send
Darrius Wright (3-0, 0.38 ERA) to the mound to try and even the series. The game can be heard on the Hornet Sports Network.
Follow the Hornets
For complete coverage of Alabama State University baseball, please follow the Hornets on social media @BamaStateBB (Twitter), /BamaStateSports (Facebook) and @BamaStateSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Alabama State athletics at BamaStateSports.com.
