Albany State baseball dodges early scare

ALBANY — Although Lane College won just six baseball games during the regular season, Albany State’s Scot Hemmings had some concerns about the Dragons heading into the SIAC Tournament.

Lane came into the game with some offensive power, with clean-up batter Chris O’Neal tied for second in the SIAC in home runs with 11.

So when O’Neal connected on a three-run homer in the top of the first inning after starting pitcher CJ Tatum issued a pair of walks, the head coach of the Eastern Division champion Golden Rams was concerned.

However, Tatum settled down. Jordan Griffin turned in a strong six-inning relief performance, Albany State converted a couple of Lane fielding miscues into runs, and the Golden Rams bounced back for an 11-6 victory Thursday at the Paul Eames Sports Complex.

Albany State (25-16) advances in winners’ bracket play to face Clark Atlanta, a 14-5 winner over Kentucky State, at 2 p.m. today at Albany State’s West Campus Field.

“I knew they were going to be dangerous because they have nothing to lose,” Hemmings said. “There’s two or three hitters in that lineup that can really hurt you. We said it from pitch one: If we don’t walk them and don’t give them free bases, we’re going to win the ballgame. We walked two guys, their big hitter comes up, hits his 12th home run of the year, and we’re down 3-0.

“Their starter, (DeShawn) Cole, has a good arm, and he settles in. We catch a break at first with them not on the bag, and then a play at the plate where he didn’t step on the plate. Take those two plays away, it’s a different ballgame, and we probably would have had to go to our closer in Game No. 1.”

Lane (6-37) takes on Kentucky State in a 2 p.m. elimination game today at the Paul Eames Sports Complex.

Tatum, a senior who had just one decision and a 6.62 ERA in four starts during the regular season, was given the Game 1 start, saving Albany State’s primary starters for later in the tournament. He settled in after the rocky first inning, allowing just one more hit and two walks after the home run to O’Neal.

Griffin, who had one start in eight appearances this season, came on in the fourth and had five strong innings before encountering some difficulty in the ninth. He allowed three hits, giving up an earned run and two unearned runs in the ninth before fielding a two-out grounder and tagging the first-base bag himself to end the game and pick up the decision.

The Rams scored two runs in the third and three more in the fourth to take the lead, using a combination of small ball and heads-up baserunning off the Lane errors. Albany State then took command in the sixth, when catcher Lawrence Hyde connected on a three-run homer.

“Jordan Griffin came in and was lights out,” Hemmings said. “The plays that changed the game was Trey McMillan hustling right here and Ryan McClendon hustling right here. We call those hustle plays. Those two hustle plays saved the game. We beat the ball here, beat the ball there, and it changed the whole game.”

Hyde, McMillan, Chase Roulhac and Kelvin Wimbish each had two hits for Albany State. Cole lasted six innings for Lane, giving up 10 runs on 10 hits in taking the loss.

In other SIAC Tournament action Thursday, Miles beat Paine 9-1 and Tuskegee beat Claflin 10-3. Miles and Tuskegee meet in the 10 a.m. winners’ bracket game at ASU West Campus Field, while Paine and Claflin face off in an elimination game at 10 a.m. at the Paul Eames Sports Complex.

A pair of elimination games will be played at 6 p.m. today. All of Saturday’s games will be played on the ASU West Campus, with the championship game scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday.