COLLEGE NOTEBOOK: Davis Adkins making the difference for Darton

ALBANY — Davis Adkins is back in the bullpen, and the Darton baseball team is back to its winning ways.

It was that simple for the Cavs, who began the season 6-9 with Adkins in the starting rotation but have turned their season around since the former Crisp County star returned to his closer role in late February.

Adkins was the top closer in Region XVII last season and led the nation in ERA, but Darton coach Scot Hemmings moved the right-hander into the starting rotation this season — a move that lasted less than a month.

“This genius coach decided to put our all-conference closer in the starting rotation,” Hemmings said. “And then since this genius coach put his all-conference closer back in his closing role, it’s made all the difference in the world.”

With Adkins in the starting rotation for the first month of the season, seven of Darton’s nine losses came in the final six outs of the game — but since Adkins moved back to the bullpen on Feb. 28 the Cavs have won nine of 11 games.

Six of Darton’s last nine victories have been by four or fewer runs, and the Cavs (15-11, 6-2 Region XVII) are all of a sudden one of the hottest teams in the region.

All it took was a bullpen appearance from Adkins to snap Darton out of its funk.

“The weekend I decided to (move Adkins back into the closer role), the team saw the success he had and they were like, ‘OK, here we go,’ ” Hemmings said. “We won four straight games and beat the No. 12 team in the nation in Gulf Coast.”

Freshman Cole Amtmann replaced Adkins in the starting rotation and is 2-1 in three starts with a 3.86 ERA and 13 strikeouts. Adkins has five appearances and 16 2/3 innings pitched since his return to the bullpen — which included a spot start on Saturday for the injured Amtmann — and has allowed just nine hits and one run during that span.

Adkins’ ERA, which is currently 3.16, has steadily been dropping since a Feb. 21 loss to Northwest Florida State College when he gave up 10 hits and four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings. Hemmings said the sophomore has been just fine with his nomadic role on the team’s pitching staff.

“He’s a team guy,” Hemmings said. “He just wants to throw as much as possible and as often as possible. He’s not concerned about what role it is.”

TURNING POINT: The Cavs are currently tied for second in the Region XVII standings with Gordon College and just one game behind leader Georgia Perimeter heading into this week’s series against South Georgia College (14-10, 5-3), which begins today in Douglas.

By the end of the weekend, the Cavs could either be on top of the conference standings or as low as fifth place.

“This series is probably one of the top three most important of the year,” Hemmings said. “They are the best offensive team in the league. They are 5-3. We are 6-2. The winner of this series sits very pretty with six series to go. I think this is one of the best South Georgia teams they have had over there in a long time.”

After the four-game series with South Georgia, Darton will close the season with series against West Georgia Tech (March 25-29), Georgia Highlands (April 1-5), Andrew College (April 8-12), ABAC (April 15-19), Georgia Perimeter (April 22-26) and Middle Georgia College (April 29-May 3).

SHARPE AT THE PLATE: Adkins has keyed Darton’s turnaround, but outfielder Brandon Sharpe has been the anchor on the offensive side all season long.

The sophomore from St. Simons Island is leading Darton in batting average (.374), home runs (4), doubles (6), RBIs (23) and slugging percentage (.593) and has gotten a hit in 16 of his last 17 games.

“He is playing phenomenal,” Hemmings said. “He has teams pitching around him, and he is still first in the league in home runs and second in RBIs. He is hitting close to .400, and teams are giving him nothing to hit. He had eight at-bats on Saturday, and I think he saw one fastball. That’s credit to how good of a player he is.”

SKINNER RETURNS: Albany State softball coach Robert Skinner missed the SIAC crossover tournament for the first time in his career last week because of his duties as ASU women’s basketball coach.

Without Skinner, the softball Lady Rams went 3-3 in their worst showing at the crossover tournament in history.

Skinner said his players’ excuse for the poor performance was his absence.

“They said that they didn’t feel motivated without me there,” he said. “With basketball playing in regionals and with me concentrating on basketball, they didn’t feel motivated to play, which isn’t a good excuse at all and I told them that.”

ASU’s three losses in the tournament were to Miles, Tuskegee and Lane, and the loss to Lane was the first in program history for the defending SIAC champion Lady Rams.

“For us to even try to duplicate what we did last year will be extremely hard when you lose games you are supposed to win,” Skinner said. “There are certain games you are supposed to win, and these were those games. We should have gone over and swept at the crossover, and we didn’t.”

The Lady Rams return to SIAC play today with a doubleheader at Fort Valley before returning home Friday for a pair against Paine College. They are four games ASU needs to win to climb back up the SIAC East Division standings.

“The next two, three weeks are when you need to start compiling wins,” Skinner said. “It’s going to be interesting to see what we are capable of doing. We need to make sure we win all four of these games.”

LADY CAVS WANT TO FINISH STRONG: At 36-10, the nationally-ranked No. 15 Darton softball team has played the bulk of its schedule against teams from outside of Georgia.

Starting with Friday’s doubleheader against Georgia Military College, the Lady Cavs will close the regular season with 16 straight games against in-state opponents. And all but two of those games will count toward the Region XVII standings.

“It’s make-or-break time for our season,” coach Eric Neel said. “The season has been great so far, but you would hate to throw it all away by not finishing the way we started.”

Neel said the success will hinge on pitchers Jostlyn Higgerson, Sommar Wright and Tiffany Bishop and hitters Emily Church and Bree Wells.

“Those five are really vital to our success,” Neel said.

Bishop leads the staff with a 2.51 ERA and an 8-2 record, while Wright (7-3, 3.00 ERA) has a team-high 38 strikeouts. Higgerson (4-2, 2.71 ERA) has struck out 21.

Church has been Darton’s top hitter with 48 RBIs, 13 home runs, a .378 batting average and a .811 slugging percentage. Wells is hitting .368 with 32 RBIs and a slugging percentage of .526.