VALDOSTA —
It was a dominating weekend for Valdosta State baseball.
The Blazers outscored the Paine College Lions 27-0 in the weekend’s three-game series — including 9-0 in Sunday’s finale — at Billy Grant Field, recording 29 hits and 17 stolen bases in the process.
On the hill, the Blazers, who improved to 5-2 on the season, were just as dominant, allowing just one Lion base runner to get to third base the entire weekend. Across the three games, the Blazer pitching staff struck out 24 Lion batters, and allowed just eight total hits.
“It came at a good time,” Valdosta State coach Greg Guilliams said. “We were 2-2 coming in and we will see how we play Wednesday (versus Georgia Southwestern). I would definitely think this would be a confidence builder.”
The Blazers didn’t allow a walk until Sunday’s starter, Jeremy Holcomb, issued a free pass in the sixth inning, his final inning of work. They finished the weekend allowing just three total walks.
“The only bad thing was all three walks happened in the last ball game,” Guilliams said. “But maybe we got spoiled on Saturday. We make a conscious effort to throw strikes and try to get ahead and our pitchers did a good job of that this weekend.”
Highlighted by Saturday night’s perfect game thrown by left-hander Nick Fogarty, the Blazers’ dominance started with its pitching staff. Using eight pitchers this weekend — five on Sunday — the Blazers recorded 27 straight outs that stretched from the end of the first game until the second inning of Sunday’s series finale.
At the plate, eight different Blazers drove in runs on the weekend, led by Jamie McMillan and Clint Carr each with five, while 10 different Blazers scored runs.
“I don’t think we faced the caliber of pitching we are going to see in the Gulf South Conference,” Guilliams said. “But at the same time, you still have to be able to hit the pitches that you see.”
On Sunday, Holcomb threw six scoreless innings, allowing three hits, one walk and recording four strikeouts. He was followed up by a bevy of Blazer pitchers that managed to shutdown the Lions.
At the plate, the Blazers once again teed off on Paine pitchers. They finished with nine runs on 10 hits and five stolen bases on the day, taking advantage of several walks and three Lions errors to move throughout the base pads.
The Blazers took a 3-0 lead in the second inning. Nick Rodda started the productive inning with a single, which was followed by an RBI double by Ryan McClellan, who advanced to third on a wild pitch.
McClellan scored the following at-bat when Clint Carr hit a sacrifice grounder to third. Carr reached base on a throwing error, and scored the following at-bat when leadoff batter Jake Montgomery hit a single to the outfield.
“Clint really stepped up, because Bryant Hayman was sick,” Guilliams said. “Clint has done a great job catching and then Michael Gouge. Those are two guys that we count on a lot. Those guys have earned that.”
After adding a run in the third inning, coming when Jake Fields scored on a grounder by Jamie McMillan, the Blazers added two more runs to their lead in the sixth inning. Rodda scored on a single by Dan Hoover and Carr scored on a sacrifice fly from Fields.
With the game’s outcome nearly finalized, the Blazers added to their lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. Fields drove in two runs, Carr and pinch-runner Will Austin, on a triple — the first of the weekend — to left-center field. Later in the inning, Fields scored on an error by the Paine shortstop, making the score 9-0.
Blazers Blog
Related Photos
-
Ed Hooper | The Valdosta Daily Times Valdosta State starting pitcher Jeremy Holcomb allowed no runs on three hits in six innings of work Sunday, during the Blazers’ 9-0 rout of Paine College. The Blazers won all three games this weekend by a combined score of 27-0.
Discussion
Blazers finish dominating sweep of Paine, win 9-0
- Blazers Blog
-
-
Win or go home
The Valdosta State softball team faces Armstrong Atlantic University in an elimination game for the 2013 Division II Softball Championship Tournament today at noon.
-
Blazers fall to Molloy in eight innings
With only one out remaining and trailing by three, the Molloy Lions strung together four hits to plate three runs in the seventh followed by another run in the eighth inning to defeat Valdosta State’s softball team 5-4 in the first round of the 2013 Division II Softball National Championship Tournament on Thursday in Salem, Va.
-
Albritton, Johnson earn All-America honors
Valdosta State softball players Courtney Albritton and Morgan Johnson gathered multiple All-America honors late Wednesday night.
-
Sending the Blazers off
The Valdosta State softball team made the long journey to Salem, Va. Tuesday, leaving Valdosta at 10:30 a.m. with devoted fans cheering them out of the parking lot.
-
VSU softball wins South Region, headed to nationals
For the third time in four years, and second in a row, Valdosta State’s softball team will play in the national championship tournament.
The Blazers won their third South Region championship Saturday, beating Alabama-Huntsville 8-3 in game three of the best-of-three series at Steel’s Diamond at Blazer Park. -
VSU baseball season comes to an end
Delta State scored seven unanswered runs to defeat Valdosta State 7-2 in an elimination game of the NCAA South Region Tournament at the UT Baseball Field Saturday afternoon.
-
Blazers host respected rival UAH in Super Regional
One would expect a matchup featuring two of the top softball programs in Division II to come in the national championship game.
Unfortunately for Valdosta State and Alabama-Huntsville, who have combined to appear in four straight national championship games, they won’t be meeting in title game on Memorial Day in Salem, Va. -
Blazers lose to Delta State, fall to loser’s bracket
If the Valdosta State baseball team is going to win the South Region Tournament, the Blazers going to have to do it from the loser’s bracket.
The Blazers (33-17) dropped their first game of the tournament Thursday, falling to Delta State 4-2 at UT Baseball Stadium.
VSU will face Stillman College, which lost to No. 1 seed and tournament host Tampa Thursday, Friday at 11 a.m. to advance to the weekend portion of the tournament. The loser will be eliminated. -
Former Lady Blazer Ferguson hired to lead Vikettes
The sign above the door still has Shan Garner’s name on it. There is even a Shan Garner plaque sitting on one of the shelves in the corner of the gymnasium office.
That will soon change, though, as Lowndes has hired its newest girls’ basketball coach. -
VSU wins 7th GSC Men’s All-Sports Trophy
Look out Title Town, another trophy is coming to town.
Valdosta State’s athletic department was awarded a seventh Gulf South Conference Men’s All-Sports Trophy Tuesday, sharing the honor with West Florida.
The tie between VSU and West Florida marked the first time in the GSC’s 42-year history that a pair of schools shared the honor. Both schools finished the athletic season with 29.5 points, based on the conference’s point system that gauges athletic success. - More Blazers Blog Headlines
-
