GREENVILLE, Miss. – The Alabama State baseball team beat Mississippi Valley State 9-4 and 2-1 in seven innings Sunday to end the regular season with 30 wins, tying for the most victories in school history.
In game one, Alabama State broke a 3-3 tie with a five-run seventh inning en route to the win. In the nightcap, pitcher Joseph Camacho and a pair of relievers limited the Delta Devils (5-41, 1-19) to only six hits with 11 strikeouts.
With the sweep, the 2013 Hornets (30-23 overall, 18-6 SWAC) tied the 1992 team in victories. Alabama State is off until the first round of the SWAC Tournament, scheduled for May 15-19 in Fort Worth, Texas. Alabama State will be the #2 seed from the Eastern Division and will play the opening game of the tournament at 9 a.m. on May 15 against the #3 West seed, still to be determined.
Game 1 – Hornets, 9, Miss. Valley St. 4: Richard Gonzalez, Leo Price, and Dexter Price combined to go 7-for-12 with seven RBI in the opener.
Price hit a solo home run in the fourth inning, his conference leading eighth of the season, to tie the score at 3-3. In the seventh, Emmanuel Marrero walked, advanced to second on a balk, and Einar Muniz walked to lead off the inning. Richard Amion reached on a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt to score Marrero, as Muniz went to third and Amion to second. Gonzalez, who went 5-for-5 on the day, hit a two-run single to right field to score Muniz and Amion for a 6-3 lead. Later in the inning, Leo Rojas’ sacrifice bunt on a safety squeeze scored Gonzalez and a Price single to center scored Waldyvan Estrada for an 8-3 lead.
Joel Alvira (6-0) allowed five hits and four runs, with five walks and five strikeouts. After a slow start, he retired 15 of 16 batters between the third and eighth innings.
Game 2 – Hornets 2, Miss. Valley St. 1 (7 innings): The Hornets scored just twice, but pitching and defense made it stand up in the nightcap.
Alabama State stole a run in the second inning, as Rojas scored from third prior to a caught stealing on the back end for a 1-0 lead.
In the sixth, Price doubled to left field and scored on Rojas’ double to right field.
Camacho (4-3), his first start since late March, went four innings, allowing three hits with one walk and five strikeouts. Michael Estevez struck out two in one inning of work, and Armando Ruiz struck out four over the final two innings to earn his third save.
Raul Perez threw out the SWAC’s leading base stealer, Edmund Cheatham, twice in game the two, the last time on a steal attempt of second to end the game.
Amion, Gonzalez, Cooper and Marrero each had two hits as part as the 11-hit attack.
Courtesy: Alabama State Sports Information
