Another all around-effort for the Wildcats secured their second SWAC sweep of the season with a 7-2 win over Alabama A&M, Saturday afternoon in Huntsville.
How It Happened
The Wildcats (16-19, 10-5 SWAC) wasted no time cracking the scoreboard in the series finale as Malik Stephens sent a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Brian Perez in the second inning.
Alabama A&M (5-24, 3-12 SWAC) countered with a solo shot in the third to tie things at one.
In the fifth inning. Stephens picked up where he left off on Friday with his second homer in as many days, pushing the Wildcats ahead for good at 2-1.
The scoring didn’t stop for B-CU in the fifth. Colton Olasin and Franki Febles reached base on a single and a walk. Olasin scored on a Matthew Garcia RBI single, and Febles crossed the plate on a passed ball to make 4-1.
Gaylen Rutledge added some insurance in the eighth with a sacrifice fly that scored Irvin Escobar.
Alabama A&M threatened in the eight with an RBI single that made it 5-2, but that would be all for the Bulldogs.
B-CU tacked on two more runs in the ninth on an RBI double by Garcia and an Irvin Escobar sacrifice fly as the Wildcats finished the sweep with the 7-2 win
“It was a great weekend of team baseball for us here in Alabama,” Wildcats head coach Jonathan Hernandez said after the game. “It’s always good to pick up conference wins on the road. We did a great job with our situational hitting today – that will be vital to our success in the second half of the SWAC season.”
Hector Vazquez made the start. He tossed seven strong innings, allowing only a single earned run on six hits, no walks, and six strikeouts in the win.
“Vazquez threw very well for us today,” Hernandez said. “He gave us a quality start and kept the AAMU offense at bay.”
Knickolas Billings and Dale Michaud took the final two innings. Billings allowed a single run on two hits with a strikeout, Michaud worked a clean ninth with two punchouts.
The Wildcats will now prepare to No. 2 Miami for a midweek contest Tuesday.
“We’ll now turn our attention to Coral Gables Tuesday,” Hernandez said. “We’d love to see any B-CU alumni in the area come out and show support for the program.”
Notes
- Brian Perez extended his on-base streak to 19 games with a trio of hits today
- Matthew Garcia’s on-base streak reaches 18 after two hits today.
- Franki Febles follows closely behind as he pads on to a 15-game reached-base streak
- Another two-hit, two-RBI game makes it a team-best 14 multi-hit games for Garcia. He takes the team lead in multi-RBI games at 7.