USA Baseball Falls To Alabama State 5-0
The USA Baseball team fell at home to Alabama State on Tuesday night at Eddie Stanky Field, 5-0. The Jags could only muster four hits in the shutout.
ASU righty Mike Estevez threw five shutout innings while only allowing three hits with five strikeouts and five walks for his first win of the season. Jaguar lefty Jared Gates took the loss after sevens innings of work by allowing only one run on just three hits with three strikeouts and a walk.
The game started with ASU’s Richard Amion hitting a solo home run to left center field to put them up 1-0 in their first at-bat. Gates would then settle in and retire 18 of the next 19 batters he faced, with only a walk in the sixth inning as a blemish. He would then force the next batter into a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Jags looked like they were even the game when Logan Kirkland singled to left field with a runner in scoring position, but the Hornet’s left fielder threw Davis Knapp out at the plate with a great throw.
Again, in the bottom of the seventh the Jags loaded the bases on three walks with two outs but the Hornet’s righty Hunter McIntosh worked himself out of the jack with a flyout to center ending the threat.
In the top of the eighth, ASU loaded the bases with one out before their catcher hit a two-run single to left field to put them up 3-0. The final runs of the game came in the top of the ninth on a two-run homer by Dexter Price.
The Jags left 14 runners on base.
The Jags (1-3) will travel to New Orleans this weekend for a three game series beginning at 6:30pm on Friday.