Season Preview: Albany State baseball opens Tuesday against Valdosta State

Albany State University is coming off of a record breaking 38-11 season to include an impressive 30-2 conference record and a SIAC regular season conference championship under Head Coach Scot Hemmings. This marks the 4th time in six years the Rams have captured the regular season title. Coach Hemmings will begin his 8th year at ASU and will do so with a new staff on hand. During the offseason, Coach Hemmings promoted Luis Martinez to Recruiting Coordinator after Grant Reynolds took a head coaching job at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, MO. Coach Reynolds spent five seasons at ASU and did a phenomenal job with his recruiting efforts and pitching staff. “Coach Reynolds did an outstanding job and really elevated our program not only on the pitching side, but also was a tireless worker on the recruiting trail. Coach Martinez has already stepped in and hit the ground running and is doing an amazing job after the departure of Coach Reynolds”, Hemmings stated. Coach Martinez will be asked to carry a heavy load as he transitions into the top assistant role. The Rams also have added Jason Townsend to the staff in January and he will take over the pitching duties. Coach Townsend was an outstanding pitcher and played at JUCO powerhouse Chipola, The University of Alabama and pitched five seasons in the Pittsburg Pirates organization. Coach Hemmings had this to say about Coach Townsend’s hiring, “We are very fortunate to have Coach Townsend on our staff as he has an impressive resume, and our players are extremely fortunate to be under his guidance and leadership.” The Rams are looking forward to the 2024 baseball season with a shot at winning the SIAC conference championship and returning to the NCAA regionals. The last time ASU Baseball played in the regionals was in 2018 in Lakeland, FL. The Rams will open up on February 6th at home against Valdosta State University at 4:00 est.

The Rams are returning six hitters from a team that ranked 1st in NCAA Division II in on-base percentage (.470), 10th in batting average, and 3rd in the country in runs per game. The Rams expect this year’s team to compete for the conference championship. Some key returners for the 2023 season include: INF Austin Roberts, OF Zane Ross, INF Hill Corley, UTL Luke Addison, INF Jonathan Logsdon, OF Quintard Wright, UTL Bradley Smith, OF Wade Rodeffer, C Sean Russell, C Dominic Rutigliano, C Xander Little, INF Emory Stephens, OF Andrew Leonard, and 1B Blakely Estes. Logsdon, Rutigliano, Ross, Corley, and Roberts were a big reason for the 38 wins. Corley had over 50 runs scored and 50 RBI which is extremely hard to achieve and Ross hit over .400 all the way up to the last game of the season. Logsdon, Corley, and Roberts were 1st team All-Confernce for their outstanding play in 2023. Also, sophomore UTL Luke Addison had a huge freshman campaign helping the team on both sides of the game hitting .358, 8 2B, 4 HR, 39 RBI, 19 BB, 10 SB, and threw 16.2 innings in 13 appearances, 2 saves, 5.94 era, and .262 B/avrg. Luke was also named SIAC utility player of the year for his outstanding season. Junior Dominic Rutigliano will be back behind the plate and share duties with Xander Little. Hill Corley will be a huge bat for the rams once again in 2024 and be asked to hit in the three hole. Senior Bradley Smith is needed to have a big year if the Rams want to win the SIAC title. The coaching staff is excited to see Quintard Wright, Emory Stephens and Andrew Leonard in action, as they have worked very hard to develop into great baseball players. Stephens will be asked to carry a heavy defensive load this year after an injury shortened his season last year. Senior Jonathan Logsdon is expected to have a big year and continue to lead the team with his high energy and outstanding character on and off the field. Senior Zane Ross and Junior Austin Roberts will be big left-handed batters for the Golden Rams, as they both had great seasons offensively and defensively as well in 2023. Coach Hemmings had several positive things to say about the Rams offense,” There are not too many seasons in a coach’s career where they return almost the entire team on offense. We return four all conference selections and our one through five hitters in the line-up. We added Nate Saavedra at the break to add a little more power to the line-up after he had an outstanding JUCO career. We will need these upper classmen to play well, but we will also need them to lead well as we have a lot of young players in the program that must develop fast.”

On the mound, the Albany State Baseball program is returning nine arms from last year’s staff. Leading the Rams on the mound this year is Junior RHP Jeremiah Reddell who was named to the NCBWA Division II Preseason All-American 1st team. Reddell is a workhorse for the Rams. He had an amazing year, going 12-0 and will be expected to be a leader both on and off the field. Sophomore Landon Kiefer won nine games for the Golden Rams and was named NCAA D2 Freshman Pitcher of the Year. Other key returners on the mound for the Rams are Tyler Bullock, Calvin Baker, Brady Davis, and William Beasley. Baker, Bullock, Davis, and Beasley carried a heavy load last season and will be heavily relied on this year. Bullock had a couple of big starts and 17 appearances from the bullpen for the Rams last season. Beasley and Baker can pitch back-to-back days and have rubber arms due to their tireless work ethic. Two-way sophomore Luke Addison will also see a lot of time on the mound and in right field, where he had a great year both as an outfielder and as the Rams set up/closer last season. Davis had a fantastic season down the stretch winning 8 games for the Rams, as he inserted himself into the starting rotation late into the 2022 season and had seven wins. William Beasley became a big part of the staff last year as he has worked hard to develop all three pitches and increase his velocity. Beasley will be asked to throw in a lot of games and his ice-cold personality plays well in tight situations. Sophomore Calvin Baker was the midweek starter for the Rams as a freshman. Baker pitched in big games early on against ranked programs and became a big piece from the bullpen late into the season to help the Golden Rams win 38 games. The team finished with an impressive 3.59 team ERA (8th in the country). The Rams also need Keith Taylor and Chandler Walker to rehab from off- season surgery, so they are ready down the stretch as the Rams head into the tournament. “We are extremely excited about our staff this season. We return our 1, 2, and 3 that accounted for 32 wins on the mound last season. We also returned our top relievers in Baker, Bullock and Beasley who will be heavily relied upon in tight situations. At times last year, I did forget we had two sophomores and two freshmen as our starting arms with Baker having to pitch against some of the top teams in the country mid-week. I expected too much out of the young arms, but each of them stepped up to the challenge and won 38 games for us. We also have enough depth this year where we do not have to ride our starters as long as we did last year. This group is extremely talented and if they work hard, they could be a top-notch staff.”

Adding to a big group of returners, ASU Baseball was able to land a few transfer athletes along with a strong 2023 high school recruiting class. Anderson University transfer LHP Kaleb King will be an impact pitcher on this year’s team. King brings a lot of experience to the Golden Rams pitching staff and is expected to fill the closer role for the Golden Rams this spring. Also, King gives the Rams more depth in the bullpen adding another left-handed pitcher to the mix. Davenport University transfer Nathan Saavedra adds power to the Golden Rams line-up. Saavedra’s first two years of college hit for .324, 16 HR, 15 2B, and 18 SB in junior college. Also, junior UTL Saavedra brings speed, and can play on the infield and the outfield as well. Saavedra is expected to hit on the middle of the line-up and have a great year as the Golden Rams make a run to win the conference tournament in 2024. The Golden Rams added three Junior College transfers RHP Andrew McBride, RHP Jordan Ackerman, and RHP Gercal Reyes. The Junior college transfers are coming in with experience and are ready to contribute to the team’s goals this year. Ackerman has a big arm with a huge upside, McBride had a great season at Wallace State Community College as McBride will be in the starting rotation for the Golden Rams. Reyes will be expected to be a machine from the bullpen in late innings for the Rams. Reyes has a live arm and is the brother of Ernie Reyes who started for the Rams in 2019. “The one thing about this transfer group is that they can throw the baseball HARD! It is an impressive sight to watch these guys pitch. We are relying on Coach Townsend to clean a few things up to make sure we throw strikes and command the zone. We need McBride to be the 4th starter and to work some on the weekends and Reyes and King need to be our shut down closers. It is unusual to go into the season with a defined role of a set-up man and a closer before the season begins. In most years we have closed by committee which is dangerous and unreliable. Ackermann could be a huge piece, once he cleans up his mechanical adjustments we made this fall as he has a big-time arm!”

The Albany State Rams had a strong 2023 High School recruiting class this fall, with nine freshmen arriving in August. The Rams have their sights on developing talent for the future. This recruiting class brings depth to the program and a different look. This group is led by OF/RHP Sebastian Griffeth, RHP Chase Ledger, and OF Seth Stargell. Coach Hemmings can see all three of these guys playing immediately. “We need these three to come in and make an immediate impact. Ledger was a phenomenal pitcher at Southland in Americus and we hope he can give us some mid-week starts. Stargell played for a state championship at LaGrange and stole 40 plus bases. We hope Sebastian can have the freshman year that Addison had for us since he has the potential to be 5-tool player.” Carson Collier and Ty Grover will bring big bats to the Ram’s offense as key pinch hitters this season. The Rams will need Thomas Willis to quickly develop this season to assist the pitching staff and help replace seniors next season. ASU will heavily rely on RHP Greyson Holley for some long relief in 2024. Coach Martinez is excited about his young infielders potential to replace Smith, Corley, Logsdon, and Roberts in the future. Guillermo Yepes will add some much-needed depth with his bat, as he has worked hard to completely change his swing and plays a solid first base. “We need this freshman class to be ready to go next year. I told them in August that they needed to put their develop in overdrive because we lose a lot of unbelievable players over the next two years. They will be asked to make an immediate impact, so I hope they have made the adjustments we asked them to make in the fall. There is some talent in this class, but only time will tell if they will be able to contribute this season.”

Coach Hemmings added, “We are looking forward to getting started in 2024. We are ready to get going after coming up a little short in the tournament last year and this group is out to prove something this season.” We have a tough non-conference slate with Columbus State, Valdosta State, Georgia College, Tampa, and Peach Belt Champion Georgia Southwestern. We have put in the time, now the guys need to go out and perform. We want to continue to win the regular season, but our goal is to be competing in a National Regional in May.” The Rams will open their season at home against Valdosta State on February 6th at 4:00 and travel to play Columbus State on February 7th at 5:00 est.