GSU Baseball Pregame Date: Monday, February 18, 2002 "T. Scott Boatright" GSU SPORTS INFORMATION 2/18/02 GSU Baseball Pregame GRAMBLING -- Grambling State University looks to get back on a winning track as the Tigers play their first road baseball game of the season today. GSU will take on Alcorn State at 1 p.m. on the ASU campus in Lorman, Miss. Both teams enter the game with .500 records as Grambling State stands at 2-2 while Alcorn State is 1-1. The Tigers started the season with a doubleheader sweep over Texas College before dropping both games of a twinbill against Delta State last Saturday. "It's still young in the season and we're trying to get used to playing together," Ellis said. "This will be another game where we'll probably look at several pitchers and try to get people ready before the conference season begins." Only divisional games count as conference games in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, so the Alcorn State game will not count as a SWAC game. Grambling opens its SWAC West Division season on Friday at Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The Tigers have done a good job at the plate in the opening four games, with sophomore third baseman Jacobi Frank leading the way with a .500 batting average, 11 RBIs and four home runs in his first season. "Jacobi has done a great job with the bat," Ellis said. "But he's also done a great job of fielding. Sometimes it's tough finding a good third baseman, but he's taking it over in a hurry." One thing Ellis is looking for quick improvement on is overall team fielding, which has proven costly for the Tigers early on. The Tigers have committed 11 errors in the four games they've played, and Ellis would like to see a decrease in those numbers. "That's an area we're working hard to improve on," Ellis said. "Bad fielding can cost you a game. That's a big part of what happened to us in one game against Delta State and we don't want it to happen again." While the game against Alcorn State won't count as a conference game, Ellis said it doesn't mean the Tigers don't want a win over their SWAC rivals. "This is a good chance to give teams from one division to get a feeling for teams from the other division," Ellis said. "This is a team we could meet again in the conference tourney, so we're going in to win."