SW Georgia News

Savannah State baseball swept a three-game Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) series with Benedict this past weekend on the Tiger Baseball Field.
 
Savannah State improved to 14-5 overall and 10-4 in SIAC action with the three wins. They are holding steady in second place in the conference standings, trailing only Albany State (14-1).
 
In a doubleheader on Friday, Jose Santiago and Enrico Peele pitched two excellent games leading the Tigers to two shutout wins, 10-0 and 4-0. Savannah State is ranked No. 1 in the SIAC and No. 2 in NCAA Division II in shutout wins this season with a total of five.
 
The Tigers closed the series against Benedict with a 14-4 rout on Sunday after weather delayed the series on Saturday.
 
Santiago worked 7.0 innings in game one on Friday, allowing five hits, with one walk and five strikeouts against 26 batters. Peele pitched nearly the same line in game two with 7.0 innings on the mound, allowing four hits, no walks with six strikeouts against 24 batters.
 
Peele improved to 5-1 on the season with a 2.51 ERA in six appearances. He leads the SIAC in victories this year and is ranked No. 13 in NCAA Division II. Santiago earned his first win of the year, improving to 1-1.
 
Game one began with a five-inning pitching duel between Santiago and Kenyan Conner. After a full five innings, Benedict had no hits, while Savannah State had only registered three hits and a single run—a rarity for an SSU team that was averaging 10 hits in every game this season coming into the series.
 
Benedict shook it up in the top of the sixth, with three straight singles. With loaded bases and one out, Justin Murry got ahold of a pitch, sending a hard-hit grounder to short where Gabriel Patxot made a laser throw home to catch the lead runner and save the run.
 
Santiago got some help on the third out when Fareed Mizelle was called out on a 2-2 pitch for batter's interference, stranding the go-ahead run at second and ending the scoring threat from the visitors.
 
Savannah State tacked on another run in the sixth for a 2-0 lead into the seventh. Kenyan opened the seventh, but after walking Patxot, was replaced on the mound, ending the stalemate.
 
The Tigers took advantage of the new pitcher and the only error in the game, which put Desmore Joseph on base, opening a scoring bonanza in the inning.
 
Joe Smith, Hakem Smith, Champion Robbins, Jake Grbesic, Patxot, Joseph and Omar Almodovar all batted runs in, as the Tigers went around the order, platting eight runs with four hits in a long inning.
 
In his second at-bat, Almodovar singled to right center, scoring Joseph for the 10th run, ending the game due to run-rule. Patxot was 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI on the day while Joe Smith went 2-for-4 with two RBI to lead SSU on offense.
 
Benedict again struggled to get their bats on the ball in game two of Friday's doubleheader, fighting against some stellar pitching from Peele. The visitor's didn't get their first hit until the fourth inning.
 
On the other side, Savannah State hit about half as well as they usually do, recording only five hits in the game. They scored one run in the first, third, fifth, and sixth for the final 4-0 win in the seven-inning game.  Mason McLeod led the Tigers at the plate in game two, going 2-for-2 with a double.
 
Savannah State closed the series on Sunday with huge 10-run rout and some stellar work on the mound from ace Jared Showalter. Showalter earned his fifth win of the season with 5.0 innings of work.
 
He allowed two earned runs on four hits with two walks and a season-high eight strikeouts. Showalter leads the Tiger bullpen and is ranked No. 2 in the SIAC in ERA with a 1.74 after six appearances.
 
As a team, the Savannah State bullpen leads the SIAC in ERA with a combined 3.52. They are ranked No. 14 in NCAA Division II in the stat.
 
Benedict struck first in Sunday's game, putting up a run in the top of the first inning, their first of the three-game series. SSU fired back with one run in the first and second for a 2-1 lead into the third. Benedict put up two more runs in the third for their first lead of the series.
 
But SSU tied it up in the bottom of the third and held Benedict off with two runs in the fourth, three in the fifth and five in the seventh. They capped it off with one more run in the eighth, for the 10-run advantage, ending the game early due to the run-rule. 
 
Joe Smith  finished 2-for-3 at the plate on Sunday. Robbins was 2-for-2 on the day while Tyler Green and Jacob Rushin each went 2-for-3. Zion Roland was 2-for-4 as the Tigers racked up 15 hits in the game.
 
Savannah State will play a mid-week, non-conference game against NCAA Division II South Region rival Embry Riddle (Sunshine State Conference) on Tuesday. First pitch in the nine-inning single game is set for 3 p.m. on Tiger Baseball Field.
 
The Tigers return this weekend with a three-game SIAC series against Edward Waters, also on their home diamond. First pitch for that series is set for Friday at 2 p.m. 

Original source can be found here