Montgomery, Ala. – The Wildcats offense came to life as they took down the Hornets of Alabama State, 11-5, Friday night in Montgomery, Ala.
 
How It Happened
 
The Wildcats (19-22, 13-6 SWAC) scored early and often Friday night, cracking the scoreboard early on a Brian Perez two-run homer in the second inning that scored Irvin Escobar. The inning continued as Malik Stephens doubled, scoring Colton Olasin and Boris Peña to give B-CU a quick 4-0 lead.
 
The Wildcats doubled their lead two innings later on a Jeremy Garcia RBI triple, a Stephens sacrifice fly, an RBI single for Matthew Garcia and an RBI double from Christopher Patterson. Just like that, it was 8-0.
 
Alabama State (22-17, 13-4 SWAC) finally retaliated in the fifth, with two runs on an RBI single.
 
The Hornets made things closer as they added runs in the fifth and sixth to cut the lead to 8-5.
 
The Wildcats snuffed out the Hornets' chances in the eighth. RBI singles from Olasin and Matthew Garcia made it 9-5. Olasin came through with another RBI single in the ninth as the Wildcats closed out the 11-5 win.
 
"Quality win for our guys tonight," Wildcats head coach Jonathan Hernandez said after the game. "I'm very pleased with the way our guys executed the game plan tonight at the plate against one of the better arms in the conference.
 
Louis Lipthratt got the start, securing his fifth win of the season. He tossed five innings, allowing five runs on six hits with four walks and four strikeouts.
 
Dale Michaud pitched an inning in relief, allowing a hit with a walk.
 
Knickolas Billings earned his second save of the season by closing out the night with four innings in which he allowed only a single walk with three strikeouts.
 
"Knicko did a phenomenal job in relief tonight," Hernandez said. "It's important for us that we have a guy like him to shut down an offense like Alabama State late in these games."
 
Notes

• Malik Stephens, Brian Perez, and Colton Olasin each notched multi-RBI games in the win.
• Olasin finished the night 3-5 with three RBI and two walks.
• Malik Stephens has reached safely in twelve straight games after a double tonight.
• Every Wildcat to step up to the plate reached base safely.
• The Wildcats handed Alabama State starter Breon Pooler his first loss of the season and bumped his ERA from 2.33 to 3.32

 
Up Next
It will be same time, same place for the Wildcats and Hornets tomorrow night as B-CU looks to secure a critical SWAC series win. Game two begins at 7 p.m. EST.
 
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