HUNTSVILLE, Ala.| Alabama State is down to their final two Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) series of the year, beginning a three-game series against Alabama A&M at Bulldog Field Thursday afternoon.

Alabama State (20-16, 14-3 SWAC) and Alabama A&M (12-27, 8-9 SWAC) met earlier this season with the Hornets coming away with the series win, but not before Alabama A&M captured the Friday night contest to open the series.

The Hornets enter the series, which starts a day earlier due to Easter weekend, off of a midweek loss to North Alabama. However, they have claimed eight consecutive conference games dating back to a road win over Jackson State March 23. The Hornets lead the East Division by three games in the loss column over Jackson State entering the weekend, with one game lost to rain earlier this season to Mississippi Valley State.

Alabama State will send Jeremy Rivera (5-2, 4.29 ERA) to the mound Thursday afternoon to open the series, where he will be matched up with Michael Hovermill (4-3, 5.98 ERA) who picked up the win for Alabama A&M in Montgomery. The Hornets will keep their weekend rotation intact with Darren Kelly (5-0, 1.26 ERA) throwing on Friday in the second game of the series, followed by Ricardo Rivera (4-2, 4.86 ERA).

As a team, Alabama State enters the weekend hitting .295, the third-best total in the conference and 24th best in the nation. The Hornets are in the top 10 in a pair of categories in the country (runs and scoring) at sixth each, while they are also in the top 30 in hit by pitch (26th), home runs (22nd) and home runs per game (22nd).

Yamil Pagan leads Alabama State at the plate, hitting .369 on the season with 17 extra-base hits – including a team-high 10 home runs. He has also driven in 39 runs and scored 52 runs that entering the week was tied for tops in the nation – all from his leadoff position. Noel Cheneau is hitting .348 with 20 extra base hits – including four triples and eight home runs – and has a team-high 48 runs driven in. Meanwhile, Eriq White (.331) and Santiago Garcia (.327) are tied for the team lead in doubles with 11.

First pitch Thursday is scheduled for 3 pm, and the game can be heard on the Hornet Sports Network beginning at 2:45 pm with the pregame show. The remainder of the series will begin at 3 pm on Friday, and 1 pm Saturday (subject to change).

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