The Albany State baseball team entered the weekend winning nine of the last ten games before its scheduled four-game series with Benedict College in Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) action. The Golden Rams captured the first two games of the series with 16-5 and 14-1 victories on Saturday.
Albany State took the opening game behind starter Roman Oliu. In 5.2 innings pitched, he allowed six hits, four earned runs and eight strikeouts as he faced 29 batters. Oliu’srecord improved to 5-2 with the win.
Ernis Reyes, 3 for 4 at the plate, hit two home runs in the game and drove in three runs. Kyle Walker, 3 for 4, also had a home run and drove in three runs. The Golden Rams had seventeen hits off of four Benedict pitchers. Albany State scored its runs in the first, third, fourth, fifth and seventh innings.
Albany State jumped right back on Benedict to win game two 14-1. They took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, addedd four in the second, one in the fourth, another run in the sixth innings and five in the seventh inning. Kevin Bryant, 2 for 4, homered to center field in the second inning.
Runs batted in by Reyes, Travis Ray Jr., Theo Smith and Kyle Walker (2 for 4 with four RBIs) gave Albany State the win. Benedict added one in the sixth but couldn’t get any closer.
Game two of the doubleheader was led again by solid pitching from Albany State. Right hander Michael Reddick started on the mound and did precisely what was asked of him. He filled up the strike zone and continuously attacked the Tiger hitters. Reddick threw a complete game, going 7.0 innings and allowed just four hits, one earned run while striking out six batters to sweep the doubleheader.
ASU looked to carry over their momentum from Saturday doubleheader against Benedict. Starting on the mound for the Rams in game three of the series doubleheader Sunday was Malik Barrington. He would go on to throw 6.2 innings shutout innings striking out six. Barrington allowed four earned runs to cross the plate improving his record to 6-3 for the season as the Golden Rams held off the Tigers 5-4.
Offensively it was Chasen Roulhac’s turn to show off his hitting going 2 for 4 with two runs batted in including two stolen bases and also picking up the save in relief. Benedict made a game out of the contest. It was 2-2 in the second inning. ASU added runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings for a 5-2 lead. The Tigers scored 2 runs in the bottom of the seventh inning as it was not enough as Albany State won its 12th of its last 13 ball games.
In the final game of the weekend series, Benedict turned the tide, winning game four, 9-5 to avoid losing four straight to ASU and salvaged a win in the four-game series finale.
Benedict, down 2-1, plated a five run third inning taking a 6-2 lead. They would add three more runs in the botton of the fifth for a 9-2 advantage. The Golden Rams fell short of mounting a come back, scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning, but it was not enough to overcome snapping a seven game winning streak.
For the Tigers, Javier Santiago went 2 for 4 including a double, scored one run and three runs batted in. Bradon O’Connor was 2 for 3 with one RBI.
On the hill, Joseph Macaluso’s complete game giving up eight hits, five earned runs and struck out five batters. Macaluso’s record improved to 2-0.
Albany State’s record is 19-16 overall, 11-1 in the conference and has gone 12-2 in its last fourteen games.