Hurricanes claim series with 12-3 win over Albany State

AMERICUS – The deciding game in a season-long tug-of-war between two Southwest Georgia rivals quickly slipped away from Albany State on Tuesday night.

Georgia Southwestern broke it open early and never looked back, rolling past the Golden Rams 12-3 in the rubber game of the season series in Americus.

The loss dropped Albany State to 25-16 on the year, while the Hurricanes improved to 24-23 and claimed bragging rights in the three-game season series after the teams split a pair of one-run games earlier this spring.

“We got off to a bad start and were down 5-0,” Albany State head coach Scot Hemmings said. “We had a couple chances to pick up one here and one there but left runners stranded.”

That early deficit proved decisive.

Georgia Southwestern struck for two runs in each of the first two innings and added another in the third to build a 5-0 lead before the Golden Rams could settle in. Albany State starter Armando Nunez took the loss after a tough opening inning in which he issued four walks, part of a night where Rams pitching struggled to find the strike zone.

In all, Albany State pitchers handed out 11 walks — the same number of hits allowed — putting constant pressure on the defense and creating scoring opportunities the Hurricanes didn’t waste.

Meanwhile, the Golden Rams’ offense never found consistent rhythm.

Albany State managed just four hits on the night and struck out nine times, though there were chances to climb back into the game. The Rams broke through in the sixth and seventh innings, scoring three runs to trim the deficit to 5-3.

The biggest missed opportunity came in the sixth inning when Albany State loaded the bases with no outs but failed to deliver a decisive hit.

“We had bases loaded, no outs in the sixth and could not deliver a big hit,” Hemmings said. “We did cut the lead to 5-3, but they stretched it right back out.”

Georgia Southwestern answered emphatically.

The Hurricanes erupted for five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning — highlighted by a solo home run from Drew Reaves and a series of run-scoring hits — to push the lead to 10-3 and put the game out of reach.

Drake Harman led the Hurricanes offensively with five RBIs, while Evan Wainman added three hits and two RBIs in a balanced attack that produced 12 runs on 12 hits.

Despite the lopsided score, Hemmings noted that not everything was negative for his team.

“We hit some balls hard that didn’t fall and played good defense,” he said. “But we gave away too many free passes.”

Albany State left 10 runners on base, a number that underscored the missed opportunities that kept the game from tightening in the middle innings.

Now, the Golden Rams will turn their attention to closing the regular season on a strong note.

Albany State travels to Tuskegee for a three-game series beginning Thursday in Alabama before shifting focus to the SIAC Tournament, which begins April 30 in Macon.

“I’m looking forward to this last weekend and getting back to Macon for the conference tournament,” Hemmings said.

After a frustrating night in Americus, the Golden Rams will be looking to clean up the free passes and capitalize on opportunities — two areas that could determine how deep their postseason run goes.