ASU baseball storms past Paine College – sweeps all four games

ALBANY — A storm blew into Albany Friday morning, but apparently the only thing it stirred up were the bats of the Albany State Golden Rams who blew away Paine College in four separate games this weekend. The Rams belted 13 hits and won game one 10-2, won game two with 18 hits and on Saturday smacked 16 hits and won game one 15-1. In the fourth and final game of the series, the Rams beat Paine 12-0.

With Saturday’s wins the Golden Rams are now 25-17 overall and 17-1 in the SIAC. The Rams have three regular season games remaining before they will host the SIAC championship tournament in Albany from May 2 to 5.

The final game of the series was the closest of the weekend for most of the game. The teams were tied 0-0 going into the bottom of the fourth inning when the Golden Rams erupted for six runs. The Rams had already put up two runs when senior outfielder Avery Roth belted a two-out grand slam to put the Rams up 6-0.

The Rams added six more in the sixth inning with five hits, including a double by Tate Thompson to score two runs and a single by former Worth County stand-out Johnathan Cirullo to drive in two more runs.

Tre Turner captured the win on the mound for the Rams. He gave four hits in four innings, walked four and struck-out four.

The Rams built an early lead in the first game Saturday with a two-out, two-run homer by Kyle Walker in the bottom of the first inning. In the fifth inning the Rams added four more runs on four hits — the big blows being a single by Kevin Bryan II, followed by a triple from Walker.

The big inning was yet to come. In the bottom of the sixth, Gavin Sloan started the inning with a walk and stole second base. The the Lions got centerfielder Johnathan Cirullo to ground out before Ernie Reyes struck out. Sloan was at third with two outs when Chasen Roulhac singled to score Sloan. Bryant II then followed with a single as did Walker, scoring Roulhac. Ben Greenstein followed that with a double to score two more runs. With two runners on base, Quantico Dodson-Williams roped two-out, three-run homer over the fence.

But the Rams were not finished. Sloan, who started the inning, came to bat and singled. Cirullo singled and then Reyes singled, loading the bases. Rouhlac then hit the ball to right field and the Lions muffed the catch, scoring Sloan and Cirullo.

Malik Barrington pitched six strong innings Albany State, giving up one earned run on six hit. He struck out seven and walked one. Jordan Griffin came in and pitched the seventh inning for ASU. He did not give up any hits, walked one and struck-out two.

In game one on Friday, with a strong westerly wind blow and temperatures dropping, the Rams got strong hitting and strong batting to overcome the elements and win 10-2. Reyes got the Rams on the board early scoring on a grounder to second by Walker. Travis Ray, Jr. picked up an RBI with an error at third base giving the Rams a 2-0 lead after one.

ASU added three more runs in the second with a two-run homer by Reyes, then a triple to deeo center by Bryant who was then knocked in by Walker.

Dodson-Williams doubled to open the third for the Rams and scored on a single right over second base by Cirullo. He was then knocked home when Reyes belted a double to the left field corner.

Roman Oliu pitched the complete game victory for the Rams, giving up two runs on eight hits. He struck out eight batters.

In game two Friday, Reyes, Rouhlac, Ray Jr. and Theo Smith each had two hits as the Rams scored in each inning except the fifth. Rouhlac batted in four runs for the Rams, while Smith knocked in three on a homer.

Former Lee County pitcher Michael Reddick took the win on the mound. He pitched five innings, giving up four hits and two runs. He walked two and struck-out eight. Cpdy Chapman and Brock Rountree each pitched one inning in relief.

Special Photo: Joe Whitfield
By Joe Whitfield