Albany State baseball clinches SIAC regular season championship but Savannah State takes game three

SAVANNAH — The Savannah State Tigers teed off on the Albany State Golden Rams on Saturday in game three of their series in Savannah, but the Golden Rams have secured the regular season conference championship and the top spot in the upcoming SIAC baseball tournament after taking the first two games of the series.  

With a 27-3 conference record, the Golden Rams would still maintain first place even if they didn’t win another SIAC game before the regular season ends. Albany State is four games ahead of second place Spring Hill (22-7) with Edward Waters in third.

Saturday’s series finale, however, shows what happens when a team gets really hot, 10 runs on two-outs hot.

Former Terrell Academy star Luke Addison gave the Golden Rams a 5-2 lead in the top of the fourth inning with a two-out, three-run homer. The lead didn’t last. Golden Rams’ pitcher Landon Kiefer got the first two outs in the bottom of the fifth and Albany State changed pitchers. Kaleb King pitched to one batter who doubled, and then William Beasley came in to pitch. An error, a single, a double and a walk followed before Thomas Willis came to the mound for the Golden Rams. Two more singles and two wild pitches happened before Willis got the third out. Savannah State scored 10 runs on three doubles, five singles, three walks and an error — all with two outs.

“We walked the lead-off hitter with two outs then they doubled,” head coach Scott Hemmings said. “They went to a lefty matchup and singled and then went to a righty up 5-4 and we made an error with two outs. Then their bats woke up and we could not get them out. They got hot and played about as good as you can play.

“I’m proud of our team for going over and winning another series and clinching another regular season title,” Hemmings said. “Winning the regular season means you played the best out of 12 teams the entire year and we did it for the second straight year. This team competed and played hard and I’m proud of them for accomplishing one of our goals. Now we need to win the tournament and get back to a national regional.”

Game one Friday in Savannah ended in extra innings when the Golden Rams scored two runs in the top of the tenth to break a 4-4 tie. The Tigers had built a 3-0 lead after four innings, but the Golden Rams responded with two runs in the fifth and two runs in the seventh.

With one out in the tenth,  Addison started the Golden Rams’ tenth-inning rally with a double to right. One out later, Hill Corley was intentionally walked before Austin Roberts lined a single to left to score Addison and break the tie. Savannah State walked Nathan Saavedra to load the bases and then Albany State shortstop Emory Stephens was hit by a pitch to score the final run.

Leadoff batter Jonathan Logsdon continued his torrid pace at the plate with three hits in five at-bats. He also knocked in two runs.

Addison pitched the 10th inning to earn the save on the mound for the Golden Rams. He gave up one hit but no runs and struck out two batters. Kaleb King, a senior from Powder Springs, won the game on the mound with two-thirds of an inning in the ninth. Jeremiah Reddell started the game on the mound and pitched five innings. He gave up five hits and three earned runs.

Albany State’s Brady Davis pitched six strong innings in Saturday’s first game and allowed just one hit and no runs as ASU built a 4-0 lead. Gavin McBridge pitched the final three innings to earn the save.

Emory Stephens and Dominic Rutlgliano each had two hits to lead the Golden Rams at the plate.  Addison, Bradley Smith, Saavedra and Rutligliano all knocked in a single run for the Rams.

The Golden Rams will be on the road Tuesday at Auburn of Montgomery and then host Edward Waters University for a three-game series Thursday and Friday. Edward Waters has now moved into third place in the SIAC standings behind ASU and Spring Hill.

By Joe Whitfield
Sports EditorJoeWhitfield[email protected]