The Jackson State baseball team will reach the midway point of Southwestern Athletic Conference play this weekend at Alabama State.

Game times are Friday and Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m., with links to live stats and live video feed at gojsutigers.com.

The Tigers and Hornets' matchup has emerged as the SWAC's baseball rivalry. The only two teams to go 24-0 in conference play (Alabama St. in 2016, Jackson St. in 2021), either Jackson St. or Alabama St. has won every SWAC Eastern Division Title since 2012 (not including Covid year of 2020). The teams have combined to win 4 SWAC Championships (JSU 2013, 2014; ASU 2016, 2022).

Only three wins separate the head-to-head matchup since 2012 (Tigers 29 wins, Hornets 35 wins).

Jackson State (19-12 overall, 4-8 SWAC) is coming off a Tuesday doubleheader sweep over Rust by scores of 18-1 and 12-1, both in seven innings. Jatavis Melton and Omar Gomez each had four hits over the two games as JSU combined for 25 hits.

Ty Hill is second in the SWAC and ranks 20th in the nation in batting average (.422), leads the conference and ranks ninth in the country in on-base percentage (.547), leads the SWAC in on-base plus slugging% (1.258), is second in the league in slugging% (.705), and is tied for the lead league in doubles (14/19th in NCAA). Hill is also tied for third in hits (45), tied for fourth in triples (three), has tied a career-high in home runs (three), is tied for ninth in runs scored (32), and is tied fourth in RBI (36).

Nationally, the Tigers ranked ninth in scoring (9.3 runs per game), 12th in triples (14), 14th in total runs (289), 12th in on-base percentage (.429), and 18th in walks (188).

Alabama State (21-12, 9-3) is coming off a series win over Mississippi Valley State last weekend. Jayden Sloan ranks sixth in the SWAC in batting average (.378), and is tied for seventh in home runs (six).

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