ITTA BENA, Miss. – Alabama A&M (3-13, 1-2 SWAC) dropped a doubleheader against Mississippi Valley State (6-8-1, 2-1 SWAC), falling by a narrow 8-7 decision in the opener and 8-7 in the second game on Sunday, March 20 in a pair of NCAA Division I baseball games.
 
GAME 1: Mississippi Valley State 8, Alabama A&M 7
The Bulldogs  would waste no time getting on the scoreboard in the top of the first as junior third baseman Jared Tribett (Lumberton, Miss.)  homered to right center and brought home sophomore second baseman Chandler stocking (Midway, Utah) for a 2-0 lead. The Delta Devils would then respond in the bottom of the inning with a run each from Davon Mims, Chris Soeder and TY Washington to flip the switch and take the lead, 3-2.

The Bulldogs would then answer in the top of the second as junior shortstop CJ Mervilus (Brooklyn, N.Y.) reached on a fielding error and designated hitter Brycen Hammonds (Madison, Ala.) scored to even the game, 3-3. MVSU would respond in the bottom as Washington tripled to left center for three RBIs and Mims, Narvin Booker and Josh Wilson came home to extend their score to 7-2.
The score would remain that way until the top of the fourth as AAMU responded with graduate left fielder Nemo Wright (PG County, Md.) who reached on a fielding error and Tribett scored to cut the deficit to 7-4.

No team would affect the score until the top of the sixth as Alabama A&M would capitalize as Wright singled up the middle for two RBIs and catcher Dillon Roop (New Market, Ala.) and Tribett added two runs to close the gap to 7-6.

Pitching would rule and the score would remain that way until the top of the ninth when the Bulldogs responded with Tribett doubling to left center and pushed Stocking to score and even the game 7-7. MVSU would then answer in the bottom of the inning as Maury Weaver singled up the middle to bring home Eric Johnson II and close out the narrow 8-7 decision.

Washington led the Delta Devils with a 1-for-4 day that included three RBIs and two scored runs while both Tolentino and Weaver went 1-for-5 with an RBI. Soeder was 1-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored. Iankel Santos pitched three innings allowing one run, while striking out two to go to 3-0.
 
Tribett led the Bulldogs with a 2-for-3 day that included a home run along with three RBIs and three runs scored while Wright was 1-for-3 with a pair of RBIs. Stockings went 1-for-4 with two run scored. Junior pitcher Josue Torres (Cidra, Puerto Rico) threw four innings, allowing one earned run while striking out one to fall to 0-3.

GAME 2: Mississippi Valley State 8, Alabama A&M 7
In the first inning AAMU would deliver three runs as Roop singled and advanced to second base with two RBIs and Tribett and graduate right fielder Tim Dixon (Debary, Fla.) scored before Roop scored on a wild pitch for a 3-0 lead. MVSU would then answer in the bottom as Booker scored to cut the deficit to 3-1. The Bulldogs would then respond in the top of the second as Hammonds doubled down the left line to bring home freshman center fielder Devin Tonkins (Greensboro, N.C.) for a 4-1 advantage.

The Delta Devils would respond in the bottom as Weaver would first steal home before Josh Wilson scored to close the gap to 4-3 before capitalizing in the bottom of the third inning with Wilson doubling to left center for two RBIs and Soeder scored to flip the switch and take the lead 5-4.

The score would remain that way until the top of the sixth inning as AAMU would answer with freshman second baseman Kylan Duncan (Huntsville, Ala.) doubling to left field to bring home Mervilus to even the game  before Hammonds advanced to second on an error and Tonkins and Duncan scored to flip the switch and take the  7-5 advantage.

MVSU would then respond in the bottom of the inning and change the course of the game as Weaver tripled to right center for two RBIs and Kameron Spencer and Tolentino scored before Angel Perez reached on a fielder's choice to second base and Weaver scored the final run of the game to close out the 8-7 decision.

Weaver led the Delta Devils with a 2-of-3 day, two RBIs and two runs scored while Joshua Wilson was 1-of-2 with two RBIs and a run scored. Dreylin Holmes was 2-of-4 with a run scored. Antonio Walker threw two innings, striking out two and allowed three earned runs to move to 2-0.

Roop led the Bulldogs as he was 1-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and a run scored while Hammonds was 3-for-4 and two RBIs. Duncan had a 2-for-4 day with an RBI and a run scored. Graduate pitcher Noah Whitted (Beaumont, Texas) threw five three innings and struck out two while junior pitcher Dustin Hernandez (Lafayette, La.) threw 0.1 inning, struck out one and allowed an earned run to suffer the loss to fall to 0-1.

The Bulldogs will be back in action on Tuesday, March 22 as they head to Martin, Tennessee to face off against UT-Martin. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Skyhawk Baseball Field.