DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Alabama A&M (12-32, 8-17 SWAC) dropped a 6-3 decision against Bethune-Cookman (22-27, 16-9 SWAC) in an NCAA Division I baseball game on Friday, May 13.
The Wildcats would waste no time getting on the scoreboard in the first inning as Malik Stephens homered to left center to take the lead, 1-0. Pitching would rule for the next two innings before B-CU answered as Manny Souffrain singled through the right side and allowed Christopher Patterson to score and take the advantage by two.
The score would remain the same until the Bulldogs responded in the top of the sixth inning with first baseman
Trevor Berkemeyer (North Las Vegas, Nev.) signaling to right field and brought home graduate left fielder
Nemo Wright (PG County, Md.) before graduate right fielder
Tim Dixon (Debary, Fla.) doubled and Berkemeyer scored to even the game 2-2.
Bethune-Cookman would then answer in the bottom of the seventh inning and unleash a barrage of runs. Boris Pina would firstly homer to left field before Colton Olasin hit a sacrifice fly and allowed Jeremy Garcia to come home. Franki Febles would then score on a wild pitch before Stephens would also make it home on a wild pitch for a 6-2 advantage.
Neither team would affect the score until the Bulldogs answered loudly in the top of the ninth inning as Berkemeyer hit a home run to left field. That final run would not be enough for AAMU and the Wildcats would seal the 6-3 victory.
Stephens led the Wildcats with a 2-of-4 day, a homerun, an RBI and two runs scored while Pena was 1-of-3 with an RBI, a home run and a scored run. Souffrain went 1-for-4 with an RBI to round out the top offensive performers. Joan Gonzalez threw seven innings, struck out nine and allowed two earned runs to move to 2-5.
Berkemeyer led the Bulldogs with a 2-of-4 day, a home run, two RBIs and a pair of runs scored and Dixon was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Senior pitcher
Josue Torres (Cidra, Puerto Rico.) threw 6.1 innings, struck out two and allowed six earned runs to suffer the loss to fall to 2-5.
The Bulldogs are back in action tomorrow, Saturday, May 14 for their second game of the series against B-CU. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Jackie Robinson Ball Park.
