Box Score The Clark Atlanta University baseball team had 19 hits, including five by Raphael Andrades, as the Panthers defeated Kentucky State 14-5 in the first round of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Championships in Albany, Ga. Thursday.

The Panthers - winners of seven of their last eight games - move into the winner's bracket of the double-elimination tournament, playing at 2 p.m. against the SIAC East Division top seed, Albany State.

Thursday in their first appearance in the tournament in several years, the Panthers came out with hot bats, scoring runs in each of the first two innings.   But leading 3-1 in the seventh, Antonio Watts tripled and drove in a run, followed by Andrades' single that plated Watts. Shahir Gates also doubled in two runs, followed by Jamari Randle's ground out that drove in a run.  The big inning gave CAU an 8-1 lead.

In the ninth, CAU got hot again as they scored six more runs – highlighted Watts' driving in two runs, Randle singling in a run – to put the game out of reach.   

Andrades finished 5-for-6 with two RBIs and scoring three times.  Gates had three hits, while Watts, Calvin Butler, Deontae Brandon, and Demoni Brantley each had two hits.   On the mound, Anthony Nettles scattered ten hits over nine innings to get the win.  He struck out three.