Alcorn keeps winning in SWAC Tournament

Published 1:17 am Saturday, May 23, 2009

BATON ROUGE — The Alcorn State Braves seem to have found their groove in the SWAC Tournament.

After losing the first game to fall into the loser’s bracket, the Braves have won three in a row and are just two wins away from a tournament championship.

Alcorn won two games Friday to stay alive, defeating Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the morning and then taking out Texas Southern in the afternoon.

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In the first game, Alcorn State defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff 3-1.

Trailing 1-0, the Braves scored in the sixth inning on Rodney Warren’s two-run single to center field, scoring Joshua Brumfield and Adrian Bowens. Warren went 3-for-4 to lead the Alcorn State offensive attack.

Collin Arnold won his second game of the tournament, this time as a starter. He went the distance, scattering nine hits while allowing one run, walking none and striking out three.

Gvona Turner and Zac Varnell each had two hits for UAPB (21-25), which scored in the second inning on an RBI groundout by Earnest Horton.

Alcorn State kept its hot streak alive as the Braves defeated Texas Southern 7-1 Friday afternoon.

The two teams will play again at noon today in an elimination game.

Friday’s game was delayed nearly three hours due to rain in the third inning with Alcorn State leading 3-1.

The Braves broke the game open in the sixth. Kenneth Rowan’s two-run double scored Edgar Alvarez and Eduardo Gonzalez.

Rowan later scored on an error to give the Braves a 6-1 lead.

Joshua Brumfield (4-0) went the distance for the Braves (27-18), allowing only a first-inning run and four hits.

Texas Southern (24-28) had its six-game SWAC Tournament win streak snapped.