Valdosta State’s baseball team pounded out 14 hits, and defeated Thomas University 13-6 at Billy Grant Field on Tuesday.

Valdosta State (22-14) took the lead with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Nick Rodda opened the VSU half of the first with a double over the third base bag and moved to third when Hunter Thompson laid down a sacrifice bunt. Bryant Hayman grounded out to shortstop, but Rodda scored to give the Blazers a 1-0 lead.

The Blazers pushed their lead to 3-0 on a Hayman two-run single in the third inning.

After Daniel Hoover and Clint Carr reached on bunt singles to open the inning, Carr was erased on a Rodda fielder’s choice. A sacrifice bunt moved Rodda to second before Hayman delivered his single up the middle to score both base runners.

Valdosta State took advantage of an error to add two more runs in the fourth inning, only to have Thomas (20-33) score three in the top of the fifth inning.

VSU quickly got the runs back, though. Jake Fields hit a triple to right-center with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth, scoring three runs. The Blazers added a run on an error and another on a sacrifice fly to push their lead to 10-3.

Two errors led to two more Blazer runs in the sixth inning.

Thomas’ Corey Conway hit a home run and Hugh Russell Lee added a run-scoring double in the seventh to cut the Thomas deficit to 12-5.

VSU added its final run in the bottom of the seventh on a Carr RBI single. The Night Hawks got their final run in the bottom of the eighth.

Jarod Carlton pitched a pre-determined four innings and allowed three hits to improve to 3-0 on the season.

Rodda finished the game with two hits and four runs scored for the Blazers. Will Wilson scored two runs and drove in two more. Jamie McMillan, Ryan McClellan and Daniel Hoover also had two hits each.

Valdosta State returns to action Wednesday, when it travels to Dahlonega to face North Georgia at 5 p.m.