NEW ORLEANS, La. | The 2018 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) regular season is complete and eight teams are vying for the automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals beginning this week at Wesley-Barrow Stadium, and Alabama State is one of those teams.
 
Alabama State (27-20) opened the season in New Orleans (La.) and will face a familiar foe to open the conference tournament, taking on Prairie View A&M – their foe in the season opener. The Hornets, who have reached the championship game the last two years, and Prairie View A&M are scheduled to start at 6 pm in the final game of the opening day on Wednesday.
 
The Hornets enter the tournament having won seven of their last eight games, including series wins over Florida A&M and Mississippi Valley State among those victories. The streak started with a win in the final game of the Jackson State series (April 22), and extended into the season finale. During the streak, the Hornets were able to get their batting average over .300 as a team – hitting .301 on the season – which is the third-best among teams in this year's tournament.
 
Alabama State leads the conference in runs scored with 336 and is second in hits with 498 – just behind Texas Southern with 506, while boasting the second-best earned run average in the conference at 4.62 this season. The Hornets had four players selected all-conference earlier this week including three first team selections in Ray Hernandez, Joseph Estrada and Darrius Wright. Hunter Allen was a second team selection as a catcher on this year's team.
 
Hernandez leads the team in hitting at .371 on the season, including 10 home runs and has added 17 stolen bases this season. He has also 10 doubles and is slugging .586 with 41 runs batted in. Gustavo Rios is second on the team in hitting at .370 with eight doubles and five home runs – leading the team with 44 RBI – while Estrada is hitting .351 with 22 extra base hits on the season. The senior outfielder has 14 doubles, three triples and five home runs, while being ranked in the top 15 in the nation in runs scored (54).
 
Hunter Phillips is also over the .300-mark, hitting .318 on the season; while Noel Cheneau is hitting .317 with nine doubles, three triples and a pair of home runs this season. Allen is the only other player over .300 – giving Alabama State six over the mark – at .305 with 11 doubles and five home runs.
 
Wright (7-1, 2.31 ERA) leads the Alabama State with 66.1 innings pitched and has allowed just 17 earned runs on the season in 11 starts. He has struck out 51, while walking 36 this season and opponents are hitting just .235 against the junior. He will get the start in the opener Wednesday night for the Hornets, his first start against Prairie View A&M.
 
These two teams met in the season opener with Alabama State winning 8-7 behind three pitchers, including Chase Laney and Ivanniel Vazquez. The Hornets trailed for much of the contest, until they were able to tie it up in the fifth inning before Prairie View A&M took a commanding three-run lead into the seventh inning. Alabama State was able to tie the game in the eighth and took the lead in the ninth on a triple from Cage Cox. A trio of players – Estrada, Allen and Joshua Dunson – were able to pick up a pair of hits in the contest.
 
The game will air on the Hornet Sports Network, with pregame starting at 5:45 pm followed by first pitch.
 
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