ALBANY, Ga. – The Golden Rams wasted no time in setting the table Friday night. Albany State scored seven times in the opening two innings and Brady Davis was solid on the mound to coast to an 11-1 victory over Miles College to start the weekend series.
After the defense turned a double play to end the Bears (4-8) top of the first, the Golden Rams (4-4) went to work. With the bases loaded, Austin Roberts recorded his first of two run-scoring hits of the night, a two-run single to center field and Dominic Rutigliano duplicated the feat two hitters later for a 4-0 lead and the double-digit win was on.
As the sacks were full with ASU runners in the home second, Roberts laced a bases-clearing double to center field to increase the margin to 7-1.
With the offense putting eight runs total in the first three frames, it was Davis on the mound who held Miles at bay. The junior left hander retired seven in a row after rolling the double-play ball to end the visitors' first at bat. Davis covered 6.1 innings of the seven where he allowed only three hits with one earned run while he fanned five to move his record to 2-0 on the early season.
Roberts finished his hitting night at 2 for 3 with two runs, a double and his five RBI. Rutigliano posted three RBI with a run on his 2 for 3 night, while lead-off hitter Jonathan Logsdon went 2 for 4 with two runs and two driven in as well. Luke Addison and Emory Stephens completed the hitters with one single each.
Closing out the night, Thomas Willis struck out the final two Bears batters over his 2/3 third of an inning of relief work.
Leading 8-1 following the Miles lone run in the top half of the fifth, ASU answered with a pair on a Rutigliano single plating one and Logsdon grounding out to short to bring home the other runner for a 10-1 tally.
The two Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference members return for a Saturday (Feb. 24) twinbill on Little League Day at the West Campus Baseball Field. The Golden Rams and Bears start the two games at 12 p.m. with a 3 p.m. second game to follow.
