MONTGOMERY, Ala. | Alabama State hits the road to begin the second half of Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) play against Jackson State in a three-game set starting on Friday night.
Alabama State (12-14, 8-4 SWAC) and the Tigers will meet for the second time this season after Jackson State swept the first series in Montgomery back on March 7, with all three games decided by one run on the weekend. Since that series with Jackson State, the Hornets have won 11 of their last 17 games including eight of their nine conference contests.
During the first series,
Trenton Jamison led Alabama State at the plate hitting .455 in three games, while
Angel Jimenez hit .429 in a pair of games.
Jamison continues to lead Alabama State at the plate through 26 games with a .396 batting average. He has collected a team-high 44 hits including eight doubles, a triple and a team-high six home runs while driving in 34 runs. He is joined by six other Hornets hitting over .300 this season including
Cristopher DeGuzman (.390 /.530 /.460) with eight extra base hits,
AJ Gardner (.359/.577/.412) with four home runs, Jimenez (.308/.558/.327) with seven extra base hits, and
Santiago Garcia (.306/.588/.422) with 10 doubles.
Abner Benitez (.303/.470/.382) has connected on seven extra base hits in 15 games, while
Hunter May (.300/.520/.507) has seven extra base hits on the season.
On the mound,
Payton Harris (0.40 ERA) continues to lead all Hornet pitchers in earned run average out of the bullpen in 11 appearances with a pair of saves.
Breon Pooler (3.12 ERA) leads all starters in earned run average in seven starts. The reigning SWAC Pitcher of the Week has struck out 42 hitters in 34.2 innings, while
Jordan Gould (3.26 ERA) has 33 strikeouts in 30.1 innings pitched this season.
Jeremy Rivera (3.38 ERA) has pitched in two games with one start since returning last week against Florida A&M and has allowed a pair of runs off of five hits.
The two teams have met 68 times since April 14, 2006 with Jackson State leading the series 39-29. Although Jackson State leads the series in Jackson (18-15), the two teams have split the last 10 games.
The series begins Friday night at 6 pm, continuing on Saturday at 3 pm before concluding with a 1 pm first pitch on Sunday afternoon.
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