LORMAN, Miss. -- Caleb Gay had his best outing of the year Friday to help lead the Bulldogs to a 4-0 win over Alcorn State in a Southwestern Athletic Conference Eastern Division clash.
The win lifted the Bulldogs to 3-4 in the SWAC, 6-19 overall, and third place in the division. A&M and Alcorn (3-4, 7-13) will play Saturday at 3 p.m. in the second game of the three-game series. The finale is Sunday at 1 p.m.
Gay, 2-2, went eight innings and scattered seven hits while striking out five Braves. It was his seventh start this season - tops in the country.
Reliever Brandon Marsonek mopped up in the ninth in making his 18th appearance on the mound - most in the nation. He struck out two batters to give him a SWAC-leading 49 on the year.
This was the first shutout by A&M since a 10-0 win over Alcorn State in 2015.
The Bulldogs opened the scoring in the fourth inning when Carson McGregory led off with a single through the right side.
Cornelious Woods then sent a shot over the rightfielder's head for a double and McGregory, who hesitated to make sure the ball was not caught, advanced to third.
McGregory, one out later, scored on a wild pitch for the 1-0 A&M lead. With two outs, Pierre Brewton drove home Woods when the third baseman couldn't handle his hit for a two-base error.
The Bulldogs went on the offense again in the fifth when Brandon Whitaker and Zeth Malcom hit back-to-back one-out singles through the right side.
McGregory followed with an opposite field hit to left. The Braves' leftfielder misplayed the ball allowing Whitaker and Malcom to score and A&M widened its lead to 4-0.
The Braves' biggest threat of the game came in the sixth inning when they had runners at first and second with one out.
After a fly out to right for the second out, Alcorn's DerVincent Hamilton singled to right. Walter Vivez, who was at second, headed home but A&M rightfielder Dalton Mitchell fielded the hit and came up throwing. His strike to Malcom had Vivez out at the plate by several feet to preserve the shutout.
Malcom and McGregory each had two hits and scored a run for the Bulldogs. Woods had a double and also scored a run.
