JACKSON, Miss. | Alabama State continues their five game road swing Friday night with the first game of a three-game Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) series against Jackson State.
Alabama State (11-11, 6-2 SWAC) enters the series off of a pair of road losses to Morehead State, but have won their last three conference series. The Hornets enter the weekend series atop the East Division, having played the other three teams in the division, and have won all three of those series. The road series will be the second road conference series of the season for the Hornets, with the other being at Alcorn State in which the Hornets won both games of the series before the finale was rained out.
The two teams met six times last season, each winning a series on their own home field. In the six games, five were decided by two runs or less with the exception being the final game of the series in Jackson.
The Hornets have four players hitting above .300 for the season, including Preseason All-Conference selection
Eriq White. The redshirt junior, who missed all of last season, leads the Hornets hitting .385 – including .571 in conference play – with 29 runs scored and 22 runs batted in. Meanwhile,
Yamil Pagan is hitting .337 – including .438 in conference play – and leads the team in runs scored with 30 and is tied for the team lead in home runs with four.
Noel Cheneau leads the team in runs batted in with 26 and is hitting .316 on the season, while leading the nation in triples with four. He is currently hitting .412 in conference play with five extra base hits. Meanwhile,
Santiago Garcia – in the midst of a seven-game hitting streak – is hitting .309 with four home runs and 25 runs batted in.
Hunter May (.400) and
Chris Lewis (.353) are each hitting over .300 in conference play.
Alabama State will send
Darrius Wright (2-1, 8.33 ERA) to the mound Friday night, looking for his second win in conference play.
Darren Kelly (2-1, 0.78 ERA) will get the ball on Saturday, while freshman
Ricardo Rivera (2-1, 4.70 ERA) will go on Sunday.
First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6 pm, and the game will be carried by the Hornet Sports Network with pregame beginning at 5:45 pm.
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