MONTGOMERY, Ala.| As the regular season begins to wind down in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), Alabama State will play host to Jackson State in a key three-game conference series beginning Friday night at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex.
The series will begin with a 6 pm first pitch on Friday night, and will conclude on Sunday with Senior Day for the Hornets. All three games will be carried on the Hornet Sports Network.
The series will feature two of the hottest teams in the conference.
Alabama State (23-19, 16-4 SWAC) enters the series winning 16 of their 20 conference games, while Jackson State (26-18, 12-6 SWAC) has won 14 consecutive games – including 17 of their last 21 contests. The two are atop the East Division of the conference with just two weeks remaining in the season, and the series marks the final conference series for Alabama State.
The Hornets will send the reigning SWAC Pitcher of the Week,
Jeremy Rivera (6-2, 3.86 ERA) to the mound Friday night; while they will send
Darren Kelly (5-1, 2.61 ERA) to the mound on Saturday in game two.
Ricardo Rivera (5-3, 4.57), who picked up the save Wednesday, will get the start on Sunday against a Jackson State team that is hitting .318 as a team through 44 games.
Meanwhile, Alabama State enters the series hitting .292 as a team with 340 runs scored and 126 extra base hits.
Noel Cheneau leads the team in hitting at .354 with 23 extra base hits – including four triples – and leads the team with 54 runs batted in and 20 stolen bases. Meanwhile,
Yamil Pagan is hitting .352 with a team-high 57 runs scored and 11 home runs.
Angel Jimenez has raised his average to .326 with eight extra base hits – including six doubles – while
Santiago Garcia is hitting .324 with a team-high 14 doubles and has driven in 52 runs batted. Meanwhile,
Eriq White is hitting .314 with 17 extra base hits – which includes 13 doubles – and has scored 48 runs.
Admission is $5 at the gate on the day of the game at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex. The Hornets will honor their seniors during the pregame before the final game of the series on Sunday afternoon.
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