BIRMINGHAM, Ala.- After four hours and 53 minutes, Christian Lopez fielded a ground ball at third, stepped on the bag, and threw across the diamond to complete a double play and send Alabama State into a celebration with a 6-5 14-inning championship victory over Southern in the SWAC Baseball Tournament Champion-ship game at Regions Field on Sunday.
Alabama State and Southern swapped the lead throughout the game including in the 13th inning when both teams scored to force the game into the 14th where the Hornets made one more play than Southern. The win clinched the first postseason berth for Alabama State since the 2016 season and the first under head coach Jose Vazquez.
Corey King finished the game 3-for-7 with a run scored and an RBI, while Kyler McIntosh finished 2-for- 6 with a pair of runs scored and a pair of RBI. Jabronski Williams and Ian Matos each finished 2-for-6
Osvaldo Mendez, the last of four pitchers used in the game, picked up the win working the final 2.0 innings and allowing just three walks. He replaced SWAC Baseball Tournament MVP Breon Pooler who came in for 5.2 innings of relief.
With the SWAC’s automatic bid to the NCAAs, the fourth-seeded Hornets (34-23) will face the tourney’s top seed Tennessee (53-7) Friday in the Knoxville Regional. Second-seed Georgia Tech (34-22) and third-seed Camp- bell (40-23) are also in the field and will play Friday.
MEAC champion Coppin State (24-28) is seeded eighth in the Greenville Regional and will face top and number eight national seed East Carolina (42-18) Friday at 1 p.m. (ESPN+). Virginia (38-17) and Coastal Carolina (36-18-1) are also in the region.
