MACON, Ga. – Edward Waters jumped out to an 11-4 lead and then held off a late furious rally by the Benedict Tigers to take a 12-11 victory in the opening round of the 2026 SIAC Baseball Championship on Thursday at historic Luther Williams Field in Macon, Ga.
Edward Waters, the third seed, scored five runs in the second inning to take a 5-0 lead and never trailed. The Tigers, the sixth seed, scored a single run in the third inning on an RBI single by
Jonathan Olmedo, and then added another run in the fourth inning on an RBI double by
Milton Herring.
After Edward Waters added a run in the fourth inning to make it 6-2, Benedict cut the lead to 6-4 with a pair of runs in the fifth.
Jaquez Akins hit an RBI double and
Cameron Haley added an RBI single.
Edward Waters scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth and another two runs in the seventh to increase their lead to 11-4.
Benedict pushed across two runs in the eighth on a two-run homer by Haley. Edward Waters answered with one run in the bottom of the eighth.
The Tigers rallied with five runs in the ninth inning, all on just one hit. A walk and two hit batters loaded the bases with two outs. Olmedo scored on a wild pitch.
Malcolm Bates walked with the bases loaded to score a run, then Herring doubled to left-center field to clear the bases and bring home three runs. The game ended on a strikeout.
Herring went 2-for-4 with four RBIs, Haley went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Akins went 3-for-4 with one RBI and three runs scored.
Edward Waters hit four Benedict pitchers for 16 hits. Starter
Lefrederick Wooten (7-2) took the loss.
Benedict (21-12) drops to the loser's bracket and will face second-seed Albany State (31-17) at 9 a.m. on Friday in an elimination game. The Golden Rams were upset by seventh-seed Miles 15-11 on Thursday.
