MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A six-run outburst in the first inning would set the tone for the night as Alabama A&M (9-16, 9-11 SWAC) dropped a 17-3 decision at rival Alabama State (21-17, 12-7 SWAC) in an NCAA Division I baseball game on Friday, May 7.
The Hornets would waste little time following a 1-2-3 top of the first as they notched three singles and took advantage of an error for a 3-0 lead before Jayden Sloan ripped a bases clearing double to make it a six-run margin after one.
Freshman first baseman
Malik Frails (Harlem, Ga.) got the Bulldogs on the board the very next inning, however, cutting it to a five-run deficit with an RBI triple to cut it to 6-1. It would not stay that way for long though as Sloan and Jabronski Williams tacked on consecutive sacrifice flies in the third to push it to a seven-run spread.
It would not be so quiet a rally in the fourth, however as Santiago Garcia, Hunter May and A.J. Gardner belted homeruns over the course of four at bats to make it 12-1. ASU would go on to add four more runs that inning before senior second baseman
Isom Ford (Birmingham, Ala.) paid off a hit by pitch and walk with a two-RBI single to center to cut it to 16-3.
A Sloan RBI groundout in the fifth would round out the scoring before Alabama State closed out the 17-3 victory an inning and a half later.
Ford led the way for A&M, going 1-for-3 off the bench with a pair of RBIs while Frails had a triple and the other RBI. Junior pitcher
Josue Torres (Cidra, Puerto Rico) started and went 3.1 innings, allowing 12 runs (six earned) to fall to 1-1 on the year.
Sloan paced the Hornets with five RBIs on one hit and May was 3-for-5 with a homerun, four RBIs and a pair of runs. They were joined by Garcia with a longball and three RBIs and Gardner with a homerun as part of a 3-for-3 day that saw him cross home plate four ties. Breon Pooler went five innings, striking out eight and allowing all three runs, two earned, to collect the win and move to 5-2.
The Bulldogs are back in action tomorrow, Saturday, May 8 when they hit the field for a 6 p.m. first pitch against rival Alabama State in Game 2 of the series.
