COLUMBIA, S.C. – Isaiah Canty hit a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Benedict Tigers to a 16-12 victory in the first game of their SIAC baseball doubleheader against Albany State on Saturday at Tiger Field.
 
Albany State scored 12 runs in the first inning of the second game and went on to take a 24-6 victory.
 
Kenyan Conner Jr. hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning to give Benedict a 4-3 lead in the first game.
 
Albany State took a 9-7 lead in the seventh inning on a two-run homer. Juan Guardado hit a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh to make it 9-8. In the eighth, Guardado hit a bases-loaded double to score three runs and give Benedict a 12-9 lead.
 
The Golden Rams scored three runs in the top of the ninth to tie the game. In the bottom of the ninth, Cameron Haley and Jose Gil led off the inning with singles. With two outs, Donnie Weston walked to load the bases, and Canty followed with the bases-clearing homer.
 
Albany State scored 12 runs on four hits, two Benedict errors, five walks and two hit batters to start the second game. The Golden Rams increased their lead to 21-0 after three innings. Canty had a solo home run in the third inning.
 
Benedict (9-9 overall, 7-9 SIAC) and Albany State (15-13 overall, 10-7 SIAC) will wrap up their conference series with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Tiger Field.