Albany State baseball shows power in weekend sweep

ALBANY — In the hunt for a top seed at the conference tournament it hosts in two weeks, Albany State’s baseball team is starting to score a bunch of runs.

The Golden Rams scored a season-high 21 runs Friday in the opener of a three-game series against Paine, winning 21-4. They followed up with 16-9 and 10-3 wins Saturday.

“They’re buying in to what we want to do, staying on balls,” Albany State head coach Scot Hemmings said. “I told them three weeks ago that this team has yet to play its best baseball, and we still have not played our best baseball with all three phases. But they are getting better, playing better heading into the conference tournament.”

Albany State and Claflin are tied in the loss column for the Eastern Division lead, with ASU owning three extra victories. The Rams close the regular season next weekend at Western Division opponent LeMoyne-Owen, while Claflin has two games remaining this weekend at Benedict before closing out next weekend at Western Division co-leader Spring Hill.

The Rams (22-16, 13-4 SIAC) have won six of their past seven games, scoring 80 runs during that stretch.

“Things are starting to click,” said senior Nic Griggs, who had a grand slam in Saturday’s first game. “We’re starting to buy into what Coach Hemmings is teaching us. Going into the late season, this is how it went last year, we started clicking at the same time. If we start to get this thing rolling, we will be on track.”

Friday’s opener saw six Albany State players post multiple-hit outings, with four players having four-hit performances. First baseman Tyler Morris went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and five RBI, while catcher Lawrence Hyde went 4-for-5 with two runs scored and four RBI. Second baseman Quan Dodson-Williams went 4-for-5 with three runs scored.

Albany State had eight doubles Friday, with Hyde and Riliani Familia each picking up two. Pitcher Roman Oliu improved to 6-0, giving up one earned run on three hits in six innings of work.

In Saturday’s opener, Albany State scored 10 runs in the first inning, sending 14 batters to the plate.

Familia, the right fielder, went 3-for-4 with three runs scored in Saturday’s first game. Griggs went 2-for-3, while Morris added four RBI. Tyler Wilcher (4-3) was the winning pitcher, going 3-2/3 innings in relief.

The series finale was a closer affair much of the way, with Albany State taking a 4-3 lead into the sixth inning. The Rams broke things open in the bottom of the sixth, putting six more runs on the board.

Morris and Familia homered in Saturday’s final game, with Morris going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI. Tristan Rice pitched four innings of relief, striking out five in picking up the victory.

“We said all year that if Griggs, Morris and Familia finally go together we’re going to be dangerous, and they went,” Hemmings said.