On a tear: Albany State rolls past Kentucky State for SIAC baseball title

ALBANY — The Albany State baseball program got hot at the right time. And the payoff is an historic conference championship.

Less than two years after Albany State merged with Darton State, the combined Albany State program won its first SIAC baseball title, defeating Kentucky State 19-2 on Sunday in the final game of the SIAC Tournament held on the former Darton State field.

Albany State scored 12 runs in the top of the first inning as the designated visiting team. The game was cut to seven innings because of the tournament’s mercy rule.

The Golden Rams, who won eight of their final nine games to close the regular season, claimed victories in all four of their SIAC Tournament games.

Up next for Albany State (28-16) is the NCAA Division II Tournament. The brackets will be unveiled May 13, with regionals played May 17-21.

“We’ve been working hard for this,” tournament MVP Tyler Morris said. “The past three weekends of the regular season, we really started swinging the bat well, playing defense, pitching really well. This team, they really wanted it this week, and it showed (Sunday).”

Pitching depth became an issue in Sunday’s finale, an issue that worked very much to Albany State’s benefit.

Kentucky State (21-22) went the long way through the tournament bracket, losing its first game before winning twice Friday and twice more Saturday. As a result, the Thorobreds played two more games than Albany State did, forcing the team to go deeper into its bullpen.

While Albany State head coach Scot Hemmings was concerned about a Kentucky State offense that scored 47 runs in the four elimination bracket victories leading into Sunday’s final, the 12-run first by Albany State and subsequent strong performance by Rams starting pitcher Tyler Wilcher shut the Thorobreds down.

“You just get in that mode where you have to try to survive and move on,” said Hemmings, who led Darton State to the NJCAA World Series in 2016, just before the merger. “They survived, moved on, survived, moved on. All of a sudden, their bats wake up because they had so many at-bats.

“Coming into (Sunday), in two years we were 2-4 against Kentucky State. They had our number. They’re well-coached and just a very good ballclub.”

Kentucky State started a reliever with limited appearances and a bloated ERA. Albany State, which didn’t have to go deep into its bullpen during the tournament, feasted.

Kevin Givhan II, who had a 21.60 ERA in six relief appearances heading into Sunday, failed to secure an out before leaving the game seven batters into the contest. He issued three straight bases-loaded walks before getting replaced.

Givhan’s replacement, Eric Andersen, who had a 1.77 ERA in 10 relief appearances, also failed to retire any Albany State batters. Andersen left the game with Albany State up 11-0, with the Rams picking up one more run before the end of an inning in which they sent 17 batters to the plate.

“The 12-spot definitely helped” said Wilcher, one of 11 seniors on the team. “I just went out there and threw strikes and let the defense work.”

Wilcher took a shutout into the sixth inning. He went the distance, allowing seven hits while striking out six and walking none.

The top two batters in Albany State’s order, Riliani Familia and Nic Griggs, each had three hits, with Griggs falling a home run short of the cycle. Familia, Ryan McClendon and Chasen Roulhac each had three RBI.