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Tanner Rainey
Joe Chance
5
Albany State ALBN 20-33
11
Winner West Alabama UWA-BB 41-9
Albany State ALBN
20-33
5
Final
11
West Alabama UWA-BB
41-9
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Albany State ALBN 0 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 5 9 2
West Alabama UWA-BB 0 2 2 1 0 0 4 2 X 11 12 2

W: Jones, Josh (5-1) L: John Paul Be (5-5)

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Game Recap: Baseball |

Rainey and Cockrum Lead UWA to 11-5 Win over Albany State

LIVINGSTON, Ala. – Tanner Rainey and Jack Cockrum had three hits each as West Alabama defeated Albany State, 11-5, in first round action of the NCAA Division II Baseball South Regional Thursday at Tartt Field.

Fifth-ranked West Alabama, the No. 1 seed in the regional, improved to 41-9. Albany State dropped to 20-33.

Rainey's first hit of the day, a two-run homer to cut the Albany State lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the second, was a school-record 18th homer for the senior from Folsom, Louisiana. He drove in runs with hits in the seventh and eighth innings.

"I'm seeing the ball better now than I was at this time a year ago," Rainey said. "I was looking for something I could drive in that first at bat. I didn't think I would get an inside fast ball, but I did and was able to drive it."

Over his last two games Rainey is 7-for-8 with four home runs and nine RBI, improving his batting average to .388 with 18 homers and 62 RBI.

"Tanner is playing well, playing confident and making adjustments at the plate," UWA head coach Gary Rundles said. "We are going to have to get him some help or folks are going to stop pitching to him."

Coming off surgery to repair a broken nose in the last few days, Cockrum drove in a run with his three singles. Luigi Mendez drove in a run with a double in four-run seventh inning that put the game away for the Tigers.

"I am proud of Jack coming off the surgery and the trauma that goes with that," Rundles said. "He continues to play with a lot of heart and guts, doing the things he needs to do to help his team win."

The Rams scored a pair of unearned runs in the sixth inning to tie the score at 5-5 before UWA's outburst in the seventh. The Tigers tacked on two more in the eighth.

"This team doesn't panic, but you can get complacent at times and I thought we got to the edge of it today," Rundles said. "The intensity wasn't there like it has been and we played sloppy defense at times."

West Alabama starter Josh Jones (5-1) went eight innings, allowing five unearned runs, walking two and striking out five for the win. John Paul Bernard (5-5), the second of five Albany State pitchers, was tagged with loss.

"It was good to get eight innings out of Josh. You never know how a tournament like this will play out and what the weather has in store," Rundles said. "If we can get to the later games then it's good we didn't have to use a lot of arms today."

"It was good that the other teams didn't get to see more of our arms," said Cockrum, the UWA catcher. "We needed Josh to go deep for us and he did."

West Alabama will play seventh-ranked Florida Tech Friday at 3 p.m. Albany State and 14th-ranked Lynn will play in an elimination game at 11 a.m. Friday.

 
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Players Mentioned

Jack Cockrum

#2 Jack Cockrum

C
6' 1"
Junior
L/R
Luigi Mendez

#17 Luigi Mendez

2B
6' 0"
Junior
R/R
Tanner Rainey

#13 Tanner Rainey

1B/RHP
6' 3"
Senior
R/R
Josh Jones

#9 Josh Jones

LHP
5' 10"
Junior
L/L

Players Mentioned

Jack Cockrum

#2 Jack Cockrum

6' 1"
Junior
L/R
C
Luigi Mendez

#17 Luigi Mendez

6' 0"
Junior
R/R
2B
Tanner Rainey

#13 Tanner Rainey

6' 3"
Senior
R/R
1B/RHP
Josh Jones

#9 Josh Jones

5' 10"
Junior
L/L
LHP