ALBANY, Ga.- Savannah State saw their hopes of winning a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Championship dashed after their 10-5 setback to Edward Waters on May 5 at the 2024 Cricket SIAC Baseball Championship Tournament which was played at Albany State's West Campus Baseball Complex.

SSU, who had already lost to Edward Waters 9-0 a day earlier in the tournament, led 5-3 after seven innings of play but Edward Waters scored seven times in the bottom of the eighth on their way to win their first SIAC Baseball Tournament Championship in school history.

Savannah State (31-15) will earn the SIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Baseball Tournament, due to Edward Waters being in the final year of their three-year transition to the NCAA from the NAIA.

Savannah State, who was the fourth-seeded team in the tournament, out-hit EWU 14 to 6 but hurt themselves with five errors. The Tigers also stranded nine runners on base.

After a scoreless first inning, the Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Jacob Rushin hit a RBI single to left field that scored Hakem Smith.

Kendal Spencer led off the top of the third with a double to center field and advanced to third on a single by D'Sean Prinkleton. A ground-out to the short stop by Hunter Bradshaw allowed Spencer to score to give SSU a 2-0 advantage.

Edward Waters scored twice in the bottom of the third to tie the score at 2-2.

Bradshaw hit a double in the fifth inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by Hakem Smith to put the Tigers ahead 3-2 but EWU answered with a score of their own in the bottom of the sixth to knot the game at 3-3.

In the top of the seventh, Jadon Oden and Spencer hit back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second. Following outs by Prinkleton and Bradshaw, Hakem Smith hit a single up the middle that brought home Oden. A single to left field by Brevin Smith allowed Spencer to score to give SSU a 5-3 cushion.

Edward Waters loaded the bases in the eight. A walk to Torry Jones allowed a run to score and a run also scored when  Erickson Matos was hit by a pitch to tie the game at 5-5. The next batter, Ferante Cowart hit a ball over the left field fence for a grand slam to give EWU a 9-5 lead. Edward Waters added another run in the inning to take a five-run lead at 10-5 which was the final score.

Oden, Spencer, Bradshaw, Rushin and Jason Miller all had two hits each for the Tigers while Spencer scored twice, Hakem Smith drove in two runs and Bradshaw stole two bases.

Jose Santiago was one of five SSU pitchers in the game. Santiago pitched 7.1 innings and surrendered five hits, seven runs and four walks while striking out four. Also seeing action on the mound for the Tigers were Luke Sanders, Adonis Perez, Fransisco Arraut and Solomon Masters.

Before reaching the tournament championship game, Savannah State defeated Albany State 7-6 in the 11 a.m. game that morning.

The Tigers had already beaten ASU 19-3 on May 3 in the tournament.

Jadon Oden hit a single to lead off the first inning and advanced to second base eon a wild pitch. A sacrifice bunt by Kendal Spencer allowed Oden to go to third and a sacrifice fly by D'Sean Prinkleton to right field was deep enough for Oden to score and give SSU a 1-0 lead.

Back-to-back RBI singles in the second inning by William Mahoney IV and Oden increased the Tigers lead to 3-0 but the Golden Rams scored three times in the third to tie the score.

A walk to Mahoney and a double by Oden put runners in scoring position for Hunter Bradshaw who responded with a double down the right field line that brought home Mahoney and Oden for a 5-3 for Savannah State in the fifth inning.

The Tigers increased their lead to 7-3 in the seventh with Prinkleton hitting a solo home run. Bradshaw followed with a double, stole third and scored on a wild pitch.

A home run by Albany State cut SSU's lead to 7-4 in the bottom of the inning.

The Golden Rams left the bases loaded in the eighth but not before they scored twice to trim their deficit to 7-6.

Albany State had two runners on base in the bottom of the ninth but SSU pitcher Gregory Gonzalez Jr struck out the batter to preserve the win and send Savannah State to the title game.

Gonzalez pitched 2.1 innings and struck out two batters to earn the save while Brayden Thomas started the contest and went 6.2 innings and recorded three strikeouts.

Oden went 4-for-5 at the plate for Savannah State and scored twice. Bradshaw had two hits, two RBI and stole two bases while Prinkleton had two RBI and Jacob Rushin had two hits.

The 2024 NCAA Division II baseball championship kicks off with a selection show on Sunday, May 12 at 10 p.m. ET streamed live on NCAA.com.

Regional competition will begin May 16 and championship bracket games will take place June 1-8 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina.

Eight teams advance to Cary and will be re-seeded before double-elimination games to decide the national champion.