Savannah State baseball seems untouchable in Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Series (SIAC) action this year.
This weekend, the Tigers rolled to their seventh consecutive SIAC series sweep with three commanding wins over Tuskegee. Since a February 19 game against Kentucky State, their only conference loss this season, Savannah State has zoomed through 23 consecutive games.
They improved to 27-6 overall and 23-1 in conference with the weekend wins and are in full command of the SIAC standings in first place. Just behind them is Albany State at 20-3 in conference. They will host the Golden Rams in their final three home games April 22 and 23.
Savannah State has the No. 3 team best batting average (.351) out of 251 NCAA Division II teams. They are ranked No. 2 in on base percentage nationally and No. 1 in triples and triples per game.
From the plate, lead-off man Joe Smith leads the Tigers with the No. 7 best batting average in NCAA Division II, hitting .459 on the season.
The Tigers are also dangerous from the mound. Their top three starters have a combined record of 25-1 this season.
Jared Showalter leads the terrifying triad of right-handers with an 8-0 record, and the best ERA (2.02) and WHIP (1.06) in the SIAC. Starter Jose Santiago is also 8-0 on the season with a 2.76 ERA. Enrico Peele is 9-1 with a 3.69 ERA. Peele is ranked No. 2 in victories within all of Division II.
In the opening game of the series against Tuskegee, Savannah State hit the lights out, racking up 13 hits for an 11-2 win. Smith led the Tigers, going 4-for-5 with three RBI, including one double, one triple and two home runs.
Santiago pitched a gem in his 10th start of the season. After 6.0 innings on the mound, he allowed one earned run on four hits with four walks and six strikeouts for his eighth win of the season.
Game two was more of the same from Savannah State as they took advantage of seven costly errors by Tuskegee, and racked up nine hits in a 17-4 run-rule victory.
Dwayne Franklin led from the plate, going 3-for-5 with four RBI, including a double. Phillip Woullard hit a big three-run home run as well in the win.
Peele picked up his ninth win of the season after 5.0 innings of work. He allowed three earned runs on four hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
Showalter closed out the series on Sunday with 5.0 innings of excellent pitching. He allowed no earned runs on one hit with one walk and seven strikeouts as Savannah State cruised to a 14-2 win.
The Tigers scored 13 of those runs in the fifth inning, taking advantage of three Tuskegee errors and racking up eight hits for a monster lead. Smith again led, going 3-for-5 with three RBI, including a double. The junior has 56 hits overall this season.
Champion Robbins was 2-for-3 on Sunday with two RBI, including a double as well. Andrai Wright finished 2-for-2 with an RBI.
Savannah State will host Voorhees College this Wednesday at 4 p.m. in a non-conference game.
On Friday, they host Edward Waters in another non-conference bout. They travel to Jacksonville to finish a three-game series against Edward Waters on Saturday.
Original source can be found here.
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