NEW ORLEANS, La. | Britt Buckelew threw five shutout innings and Cristopher DeGuzman delivered a two-out double in the top of the 10th inning to lift Alabama State to a 5-2 victory over defending Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) champion Southern Sunday afternoon at Wesley Barrow Stadium in the Andre Dawson Classic.

Buckelew (1-0) came into the game in the sixth inning of a 2-2 contest, and did not allow a run off of five hits in 5.0 innings of work. He finished the game with six strikeouts and no walks. Meanwhile, the Hornets and Southern battled through five scoreless innings, until DeGuzman delivered a two-out run-run double in the 10th inning to score AJ Gardner and Jabronski Williams with the go-ahead runs.

Cameron Hearn tripled in the 10th for the final run of the game for Alabama State (3-0).

Hearn finished the day 3-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI, while also walking one time. Santiago Garcia finished 2-for-5 for the Hornets, who finished with 10 hits on the day – giving them 31 on the weekend.

Alabama State struck first in the contest on a Garcia single in the top of the first inning to score Hearn for a 1-0 lead, before they were able to push it to 2-0 on a bases loaded walk to Ian Matos to score Gardner. The score stayed that way until Southern added a run in the fourth on a wild pitch, and another in the fifth off of starter Austin King who worked 5.0 innings and allowed two runs off of four hits with three strikeouts.

The Hornets return to action Tuesday in a mid-week contest at Regions Field against UAB, with first pitch scheduled for 4 pm in Birmingham (Ala.).

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