MONTGOMERY, Ala. | After four consecutive games on the road to start the season, Alabama State is set for the home opener Friday night at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex. The Hornets will face Oakland at 6 pm to kick off a three-game series that will extend through Sunday.

Alabama State (3-1) enters the contest after a 10-3 loss to Alabama on the road Wednesday, a game in which they trailed by just three heading into the eighth inning. The Hornets won their first games of the season last weekend in the Andre Dawson Classic defeating three Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) West Division schools, including defending champion Southern.

How to Watch (Live Stats)
Oakland at Alabama State, Friday (6 pm) | LIVE STATS
Oakland at Alabama State, Saturday (6 pm) | LIVE STATS
Oakland at Alabama State, Sunday (1 pm) | LIVE STATS

Game Notes
Redshirt sophomore AJ Gardner blasted his first home run in an Alabama State uniform when he took a 3-2 pitch and sent it over the left field wall against Alabama at Sewell-Thomas Stadium Wednesday afternoon.

Alabama State has used eight different pitchers through the first four games of the season, with only one seen action in multiple games. Sophomore, and second team all-conference selection, Jeremy Rivera, has seen action against UAPB (2/14) and Alabama (2/19) this season.

Santiago Garcia and Dilan Espinal have each picked up hits in the first four games of the season, with four other players joining the pair in reaching base in all four games so far this season – Cristopher DeGuzman, Jabronski Williams, Chris Lewis and Ian Matos.

The Hornets are 3-0 on the weekend this season, and 0-1 during midweek contests. They had a Tuesday game against UAB postponed until March 18 earlier this week due to rain.

Alabama State opened the season with 11 consecutive scoreless innings on the mound, beginning with run-rule shutout of Prairie View A&M in the opener. Including the seven innings of the contest, the Hornets did not allow a run until the fifth inning of the second game of the Andre Dawson Classic (against UAPB).

The Hornets started the season off 3-0 for the first time since 2013, a season in they started off 4-0 with a weekend sweep of Chicago State and a midweek victory over Mercer. They went on to finish that season 33-25, including 18-6 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).

Alabama State won in a variety of ways at the Andre Dawson Classic beginning with the seven-inning run-rule win over Prairie View A&M. They followed that up with a walk-off win in the ninth against UAPB, before beating Southern in 10 innings on Sunday.

A pair of pitchers dazzled in their first appearance for the Hornets over the weekend with Jacknell Guzman earning the win after going seven scoreless innings in a run-rule victory over Prairie View A&M and giving up just a pair of hits, meanwhile, Britt Buckelew went five innings out of the bullpen in a win over Southern holding the Jaguars scoreless with six strikeouts.

This weekend will be the first meeting between Alabama State and Oakland, who dropped a 17-1 decision to eighth-ranked Auburn Wednesday night – an opponent of Alabama State later this season.

Follow the Hornets
For complete coverage of Alabama State University baseball, please follow the Hornets on social media @BamaStateBB (Twitter), /BamaStateSports (Facebook) and @BamaStateSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Alabama State athletics at BamaStateSports.com.