Baseball claims first SWAC series

Box Score
NORMAL – The Bulldog baseball team claimed their first Southwestern Athletic conference series with a 5-4 win over Alcorn State Sunday afternoon.

A&M opened the game in the bottom of the third inning with two runs.
Dustin Dhanani and Julio Nunez, who both advanced to first on walks, scored when Patrick Dodson hit a sacrifice fly and Andrew Utterback singled to centerfield.

Alcorn made noise in the fifth inning when an out call was reversed after the Braves head coach Barrett Rey asked the first base umpire to get help. After a meeting with the other officials it was determined that first basemen Allen Smith pulled his foot resulting in Alcorn's Earl Burl staying on first and eventually scoring, cutting the lead to 2-1.

The Bulldogs increased their advantage when they added three runs in the sixth with Justen Folger, Allen Smith, and Jordan Friend each plating a run.

Alcorn made a dent on the scoreboard with three runs off of three hits and a Maroon & White error in the eighth.

Starting pitcher Devin Smith held six strikeouts by the time the fifth inning rolled around. From there he completed his day in the seventh with two more strikeouts. He earned his second win of the year for his performance. This was Smith's second game with eight strikeouts and maintains the season high for most strikeouts in a contest.

Nunez and Dodson each recorded a pair of hits to lead the Bulldogs. Nunez plated a run while Dodson recorded an RBI.

"It feels great to get this win," said head coach Mitch Hill. "I stress more and more we have to win at home to give ourselves a chance to compete in the division."

"Devin Smith did a great job today and the runs we got helped him along the way," Hill mentioned. "Once Smith got his pitch count up we went with Ramon Nelson who closed the game out for us."

The series victory in the conference's first weekend of league action is the earliest for the Bulldogs since the 2009 season.

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