Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The Kentucky State baseball team dropped a pair of games to the Albany State Golden Ram's on Saturday afternoon. The SIAC foes will play a single contest tomorrow afternoon to wrap up their three-game weekend series.
 
Kentucky State falls to 2-20 overall and 1-6 to begin conference play. Albany State improves to 13-13 overall and a perfect 8-0 in SIAC action.
 
GAME 1
Kentucky State was plagued by critical errors and lost, 10-2, in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader against Albany State.
 
Albany State jumped on top of the Thorobreds early in the first game using some unconventional strategy. The first three Golden Ram hitters bunted, reaching safely and loading the bases with no outs. A single to right field by ASU second baseman Allen Hardy put the Golden Rams ahead, 1-0. Albany State tacked on four more runs before the end of the opening inning, helped by a pair of KSU errors, to jump ahead 5-0 to start the game.
 
Kentucky State got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning. Justin Cain (2-4, 2 RBI) smashed a double down the right field line that brought home Cornell Brown all the way from first base.
 
In the top of the fifth, errors once again plagued the Thorobreds. With no outs and the bases loaded, Hardy popped a ball into left field that KSU leftfielder Marcus Jackson had trouble with. By the time KSU third baseman Josh O'Reel's relay throw got past catcher Marshall Howard IV, all three runners had scored. After tacking on another run, ASU finished the innings with a 9-1 lead.
 
The Thorobreds got one run back in the bottom of the inning. Cain picked up his second RBI of the game when he hit a soft popup over the third baseman's head that allowed Paul Simon, who stole third base on the previous play, to score.
 
After putting up one more run in the top of the seventh inning, the Golden Rams finished game one with a 10-2 victory.
 
AJ Garza-Hall (0-3) was saddled with the loss after pitching 6.0 innings. He allowed eight hits, walked three and struck out one. Garza-Hall allowed nine runs while on the mound, but only five were earned.
 
John Paul Benard (1-0) pitched 7.0 solid innings to earn the complete game victory. Benard allowed eight hits and two earned runs while striking out six KSU batters.
 
GAME 2
Once again, the Golden Rams got off to a hot start in the second game of Saturdays doubleheader. With the bases loaded, Allen Hardy hit a 2-RBI double that hit off the right field wall, brining two runs home to put ASU ahead, 2-0, in the top of the first inning. Albany State added two more runs on a Jeromy Arrington bases loaded single to centerfield that put ASU ahead of the Thorobreds, 4-0, heading into the bottom of the inning.
 
After ASU picked up another run in the top of the third, the Thorobreds got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning. Justin Cain earned a bunt single when he beat out the throw to first. An errant throw by Golden Ram first baseman Sable Gilliard allowed Paul Simon to score and Cain to advance to third base, cutting the ASU lead to 5-1. The next KSU hitter, Kyle Clark, grounded out to shortstop but Cain came home to bring the Thorobreds to within three runs.
 
Albany State responded with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth and another two in the sixth and seventh innings to close out game two, 11-2, and earn the doubleheader sweep on day one of the three-game weekend series.
 
Kentucky State starting pitcher Josh Dunn (0-7) was given the loss after allowing nine hits and six earned runs in 5.2 innings.
 
Andrew Bacon (1-0) tossed a seven inning complete game to earn the victory for the Golden Rams. Bacon allowed five hits and no earned runs while striking out seven KSU batters.
 
NEXT UP
The two teams will be back on the field tomorrow afternoon for a single game to wrap up the three-game weekend series. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m.