Big Inning Lifts ASU Hornets To First Win

MONTGOMERY, Alabama  -- A five-run seventh inning broke a 2-2 tie and lifted the Alabama State baseball team to an 8-2 win over Eastern Kentucky Saturday night at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex.

After the Colonels tied the score in the top half of the inning, Dillon Cooper led off the home seventh by being hit by pitch ahead of an Emmanuel Marrero single to left field. Dexter Price then hit a bunt single to the left side to load the bases. Einar Muniz' bloop single to right scored pinch runner Marcus Swint, which put the Hornets ahead 3-2. After a sacrifice fly by Richard Amion scored Marrero, Richard Gonzalez laced a two-run double on a 2-1 pitch to the left field wall, scoring Prince and Muniz. Cesar Rivera's single to left-center field scored Gonzalez to give the Hornets a 7-2 lead.

All but one Hornet starter got at least one hit, with Price, Muniz, Amion, Rivera and Waldyvan Estrada each with two hits in the 13-hit attack.

"It was a totally different ball game for us tonight," head coach Mervyl Melendez said. "We put runners in scoring position like we did Friday, but we made it happen in this game. We got a couple of hits when we had runners in scoring position (after stranding 12 runners Friday night) and were able to put a good inning together. When you have a big inning, you usually win that game. You have to stay away from them defensively, and you have to have them offensively."

Joseph Camacho earned the win, going seven innings, allowing seven hits, two runs, with two walks and five strikeouts. He consistently worked out of jams, as Eastern Kentucky left at least one runner on base in the first four innings, and five of the seven innings he pitched.

"It was a very strong outing," Melendez said of Camacho. "He threw every pitch for a strike, located very well, and got their best hitters out, which is key when facing a good-hitting ball club, which they are. You have to contain their best hitters. That's one of the things we discussed that we had to do better against their best hitters, and take advantage of key situations."

The Hornets scored in the first inning. Amion hit a leadoff double to right-center field, and scored on a one-out single to left field by Rivera to give ASU a 1-0 lead.

Alabama State added a run in the third after another leadoff hit by Amion, this time a single to right field. With two out, Estrada dropped a single into right field between several defenders, scoring a hustling Amion from first base for a 2-0 Hornets' lead.

Swint score the final Alabama State run in the eighth. He walked, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a two-out single by Muniz through the left side for the final margin.

The teams conclude the three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
 Box Score

COURTESY ALABAMA STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS MEDIA RELATIONS