TALLAHASSEE, Fla. | Alabama State jumped out to an early lead on the road against Florida A&M, but a late rally by the Rattlers proved too much as Florida A&M won 15-14 at Moore-Kittles Field Tuesday night.

Alabama State (9-12) used a pair of first inning home runs off the bats of Trenton Jamison (solo) and AJ Gardner (three-run) to run out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning, before adding five more in the third on a two-run home run by Santiago Garcia and a two-run double by Jamison to push the lead to 10-1.

After Florida A&M (10-16) trimmed the lead to 10-3 in the bottom of the third, Alabama State added a run in the fourth on an RBI double by Abner Benitez and in the fifth on an RBI single by Chris Lewis to push the lead to 12-3.

The Rattlers added three in the fifth to trim the deficit to 12-6 before Alabama State added a pair of runs in the eighth to push the lead to 14-6. However, Florida A&M scored five in the eighth to pull to within 14-11 before scoring four runs in the ninth on bases-loaded walks for the final margin.

Alabama State pounded out 18 hits on the night, led by Gardner who finished 5-for-6 with three runs scored and three runs batted in. Jamison finished the night 4-for-6 with four runs batted in, while Garcia finished 3-for-6 with a pair of runs batted in and three runs scored. Cristopher DeGuzman and Benitez each finished with two hits each in the loss.

Nate Palmer, one of 10 pitchers used on the night by the Hornets, suffered the loss as he gave up one run in the ninth inning. Jeremy Rivera made his first appearance of the season in the start, working 2.1 innings and allowing a pair of runs off of three hits.

Alabama State returns to action this weekend on the road in Huntsville (Ala.) against Alabama A&M in Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) action.