LORMAN &045; A healthy Earl Smith can put smiles on everybody’s faces.

That and some timely hits.

That’s what the Alcorn Braves are hoping for this weekend when they travel to Alabama State for a weekend conference series that could go a ways in determining how things shake out in the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s East Division. Both teams are logjammed at No. 2 with 7-5 records and one game ahead of Jackson State’s 6-6 mark.

The Braves sure would like to take three this weekend. And Smith wants to show he’s back on track after a bout of tendonitis in his pitching elbow with a solid outing in Game 1 at 1 p.m. today.

&uot;Just a little bit of soreness,&uot; said the hard-throwing 6-6 right-hander from Stockton, Calif. &uot;It’s worked out, and I’m playing through it. I’m trying to play through it. This is big. They came here, and they took two out of three. We have to go up there and go for the sweep. Going 2-2, that’s all you can ask for on the road, but we’re trying to sweep and control our own destiny.&uot;

Smith, in his first season with the Braves after transferring from Grossmont Community College, has been the Braves’ No. 1 weekend starter this season but struggled in his last outing in an 11-10 loss at home to Jackson State.

Smith is averaging just more than a strikeout per inning, but he has struggled at times on the mound with a 5.12 ERA. Against Jackson, Smith surrendered seven earned runs in four innings in perhaps his worst outing of the season.

&uot;His arm had a little tendonitis,&uot; Alcorn head coach Willie &uot;Rat&uot; McGowan said. &uot;When he started against Jackson, he did all right. He threw four innings, and we lost that ball game. His arm was sore, and he wasn’t his best. That tendonitis comes and goes. The only thing you can do on that is give him some rest and let him take some inflammatory pills.&uot;

A healthy Smith right now would be nice for the Braves to start out the series. Armed with a fastball near 90 mph, Smith threw a gem against Mississippi Valley State to hand the Delta Devils their first loss in conference by going all nine, allowing four hits and striking out 11.

Two outings prior he threw well but lost the opener to Alabama State, 2-1, while allowing three hits and striking out six in his second start of the season.

&uot;I just wanted to go out there and compete,&uot; Smith said of his last outing. &uot;My fastball from the Mississippi Valley game was hitting where I wanted it to be. All my pitches were working that day. Alabama State is a good team, a solid team. If you make mistakes, they’ll capitalize on them.&uot;

Then it comes down to the bats. Much like that first outing Smith had against Alabama State, the bats struggled and went down with a whimper. The Braves are hitting .329 as a team &045; second to Jackson State’s .350 in the conference &045; but have lacked the key hit with runners in scoring position at times this season.

Seven of the conference’s 10 teams have more runs batted in than Alcorn.

&uot;It seems like the top of the lineup will be hitting or the bottom of the lineup will be hitting,&uot; said right fielder Caleb Betschart, the team’s second-leading hitter at .440. &uot; We’ll have the bases loaded and score one or two runs in an inning and don’t get the hit that breaks it open. We’re not getting that big hit. Our bats were really not there against Valley, but as far as pitching and defense &045; that meant a lot right there. If we can get our bats together, I don’t feel we can be stopped in the SWAC.&uot;

The Braves are down in runs scored with just 154 &045; sixth in a league where Prairie View’s 294 is tops and runs have historically almost never been at a premium. Even Wednesday in a doubleheader against a struggling Arkansas-Pine Bluff squad, the Braves scored just three runs in a Game 2 loss, 5-3.

&uot;Our bats are on and off, really,&uot; McGowan said. &uot;The second game (Wednesday) we didn’t do well, and that hurt us. It also hurt us when we played Jackson. We didn’t generate any offense (in a doubleheader) here against Jackson and go up there and put up 18 hits. Right now we’re not as consistent as I’d like to be at this time.

&uot;We’ll go at a bad pitch or take a pitch for a strikeout. We’re not putting the ball in play with the bases loaded or runners on second and third.&uot;

The series with the Hornets will be a big one in the race for the conference lead. The schedule calls for doubleheaders today and Saturday, but Saturday’s schedule calls for a nine-inning conference game and a seven-inning contest that won’t count in conference.

The Delta Devils are in first at 10-2 with a three-game set at home against last-place Alabama A&M (0-12, 8-20) as the second round of conference play begins today.

&uot;We’ve got to go in there and win at least two ball games from them,&uot; McGowan said. &uot;We’ve got to. Everything is right there in our hands. All we’ve got to do is get the job done.&uot;