Ed Hooper | The Valdosta Daily Times Kevin Rogers is just 3-3 this season, but the senior leads the Valdosta State Blazers with a 2.06 earned run average in 10 starts this season.

While the softball team has stolen the spring sports headlines at Valdosta State University, the Blazer baseball team is quietly enjoying a bounce back season.

With three weeks remaining in the regular season, the Blazers are tied for the lead in the Gulf South Conference. A major reason for the Blazers’ success: senior left-handed pitcher Kevin Rogers.

After struggling in 2011, Rogers has been the complete opposite this season. In fact, the 26-year old San Diego, Calif. native has established himself as one of the best pitchers in the conference, and region.

In 10 starts this season, Rogers has been anything but average, holding opponents to a .205 batting average. His 2.06 season earned run average and 1.23 conference ERA are both lows among conference pitchers this season.

“I just want to give us the best chance to win,” Rogers said. “Stats are stats, they are always going to be there, but I don’t focus too much on that.”

“His fastball has been down in the strike zone, so he has been able to command both sides of the plate,” Valdosta State head coach Greg Guilliams said. “He has a good slider, so that combination, with both sides of the plate with his fastball that has some tail and run, and a hard breaking ball, that wins at every level.”

Despite leading the team in starts this season, Rogers’ record is just 3-3. The left-hander hasn’t received the proper help that he or Guilliams would like to be getting.

“Unfortunately, he can’t field and hit for us too,” Guilliams said. “Gosh, if he could do that, he would probably be undefeated.”

Rogers received a no decision in VSU’s 5-4 loss to Florida Southern earlier in the season. The Blazers’ loss wasn’t because of a lack of effort from Rogers, who pitched seven innings of one-hit, shutout baseball, while striking out seven batters in the game. Following his departure from the game, the Blazer bullpen allowed five runs in the eighth inning.

Rogers received another no decision when the Blazers visited New Orleans in March. Once again, Rogers held the opposing batters in check through seven-plus innings; the Buccaneers managed just one run on five hits off him. Rogers was pulled in the eighth inning, and UNO managed four more runs in the inning to take a 5-4 win.

Going deep into games isn’t a rarity for Rogers this season. He has pitched at least six innings in nine of his 10 starts this season, and he has pitched seven innings in six of those nine starts.

In his most recent start, Saturday against Alabama-Huntsville, Rogers threw a career-high 8 1/3 innings, but took the loss despite allowing just one earned run. Errors plagued his start, as he allowed four unearned runs.

“It is very frustrating,” Rogers said after the game. “But, I can only focus on what I am doing best on the mound, and I gave us the best chance to win, but we just didn’t put some hits together — it happens.”

Going late into games was something Rogers was unable to do for much of 2011; he managed to pitch into the sixth inning on just four occasions last season.

“I really learned how to feel my mechanics,” Rogers said. “I got a little better with my mechanics from last year.”

In his 12 starts last season, Rogers was just 4-6 with a 5.89 earned average; he especially struggled early in the season. His common stat line from a game somewhere before April looked something like this: four innings pitched, 10 hits, seven runs (six earned), with five strikeouts.

“For me, I would attribute it to the fact that he just had to get comfortable,” Guilliams said. “He had come all the way from California, and it is a new place, new surroundings. South Georgia is a lot different from California.”

Rogers came to Valdosta State after a scout with the Philadelphia Phillies, and a friend to Guilliams, told the Blazer head coach about the lefty. After watching him play, Guilliams made a pitch to Rogers about Valdosta State; He accepted and became a Blazer in the fall of 2010.

But, according to Rogers, the move wasn’t the reason for his early season struggles. Instead, the struggles were a result of not pitching over the summer, as he spent the three months recovering from a back injury he received during his sophomore season at San Joaquin Delta Junior College, where he spent two seasons after serving as a volunteer fire fighter in southern California.

Rogers eventually found his form late last season, recording three straight complete game starts to finish the regular season, going 2-1 during that span.

“He finally got comfortable with his mechanics, and location,” Guilliams said.

His loss during that span came against the eventual national champion West Florida Argonauts, a game in which he allowed one run on five hits that were scattered across seven innings of work.

His only allowed run was set up by a deep fly ball to left field in the seventh inning, which forced outfielder Antonio Clark to slam into the wall and drop the ball from his glove. The play was ruled a hit rather than an error, making the run that was scored later in the inning earned, rather than unearned, which hurt Rogers’ earned run average.

Rogers’ impressive start against UWF proved how far he had come in the season, as his previous start against the top-ranked Argonauts was completely different. He allowed five earned runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings of work. The Blazers eventually lost the game 15-1.

In his final regular season start of 2011, Rogers earned a complete game shutout victory over in-state rival West Georgia, allowing just two hits and striking out three in the win.

“I think at the end of last year, I just really focused on my mental game,” Rogers said of the turnaround. “I just got better preparation and I just went out to practice and did what I needed to do and didn’t worry about doing anything else.”

Now, Rogers seems to have carried over the moment he started to build at the end of last season into this season. He has guided the Blazer pitching staff, which is holding opponents to 3.68 runs per game.

“That is what an ace pitcher does,” Guilliams said.