Boom or bust offense earns VSU a split against UAH

Published 9:19 am Sunday, April 10, 2016

VALDOSTA — Game 1 of Valdosta State’s doubleheader against the University of Alabama-Huntsville had the early makings of an offensive showcase.

Both teams combined to send 13 batters to the plate in the first inning, so it was somewhat surprising to see the Blazers drop the opening game Saturday at Billy Grant Field in a 3-1 pitching duel.

“Wilson Adams, the ace for Huntsville, he’s good,” said VSU head coach Greg Guilliams after the doubleheader. “When you faced somebody’s ace, you’ve got to be able to do little things, and when you have opportunities to score you’ve got to cash in. We were not able to do that and it came back to bite us.”

VSU starter Mitchell Cody got off to a quick start in the top of the first, striking out the first batter and inducing a lazy fly ball for the second out. But the next two batters singled and Wright Hackett doubled to bring home the first run of the game.

It appeared as if the Blazers would respond quickly when Chipper Andzel led off the bottom of the first with a single and Scott Mathews walked to give VSU a pair of baserunners with no outs.

Even after Adams struck out Dalton Duty, the Blazers looked to be in business when an error on Chargers second baseman Michael Fox loaded the bases with one out. VSU just couldn’t find the play they needed to break the game open as Ryan Smith and Marcus Sigmon went down on third strikes.

Unfortunately for the Blazers, failure to capitalize in key situations became a bit of a trend in Game 1.

Another leadoff single went for naught in the bottom of the fourth, and Ryan Slaughter caught himself in a rundown between third and home after his one-out triple in the bottom of the fifth. But in spite of the missed opportunities, VSU still had a chance to pull out a win late.

Cody followed up a shaky first inning by giving up a leadoff double to Ben Rhodes in the top of the second. After the ensuing batter struck out, Rhodes came home to score the Chargers’ second run of the game on Matt Spruill’s infield single.

But from Spruill’s single on, Cody was a different pitcher. Cody forced the next batter to ground into an inning-ending double play and he only got stronger from there.

Cody worked around a single base hit in the third before sitting the Chargers down in order over the next two innings. Even when UAH managed to reach base early in an inning, Cody kept anyone from approaching home plate.

“Most good pitchers, if you don’t get them early, you don’t get them,” Guilliams said. “He was still kind of getting into his rhythm. Once he found that, he was outstanding.”

Trey Mathis, who finished the game a perfect 4-of-4 at the plate, doubled to leadoff the top of the sixth, but after a ground out, Cody started started a miraculous double play on a ball hit back at him.

But as VSU’s offense continued to stall, Cody finally relented another run. With two outs and a runner on first, the thorn in Cody’s side all night, Mathis, hit his second double of the contest to push UAH’s lead to 3-0 in the top of the eighth.

The first two Blazers were sat down in short order in the bottom of the frame, but after looking listless at the plate most of the game, the offense finally found some traction.

Duty doubled with two outs and came around to score the VSU’s first run of the game on Tyler York’s bloop single. With the Blazers on the board, Taylor Clemons came on to relieve Adams, but he promptly walked the next two batters to load the bases, desperately clinging to a 3-1 lead.

It was just a matter of too little too late for VSU. Jaykob Graham flied out on the first pitch he saw and the Blazers were unable to threaten in the final half inning of the loss.

Saturday wasn’t a complete disappointment for VSU’s offense though. The potential offensive outburst of Game 1 instead saved itself for Game 2 when the Blazers scored in five of the first six innings of their 14-5 victory.

In juxtaposition to Game 1 in which the Blazers just couldn’t find the hit they needed, in Game 2, VSU got every hit they could want and then some.

“To me, the No. 1 biggest reason we hit some much better the second game than the first game was because the first game we were chasing pitches out of the strike zone,” Guilliams said. “We were in bad counts. The second ball game we didn’t do it as much and we hit better.”

Valdosta State had 17 total hits in Game 2, nine of them going for extra bases. Duty went 2-of-5 with a home run and two RBIs, Andzel hit two doubles, drove in two runs and walked in his 3-of-3 day at the plate and Mathews doubled, going 2-of-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Overall, the Blazers scored three runs in the first inning, four in the third and five runs in the sixth inning as they pulled away from the Chargers.

On the mound, Kellan Bailey got off to a tough start, giving up five walks and four runs in one and 1/3 innings of work, but Roman Donofro relieved Bailey and kept UAH at bay through four and 2/3 innings of two-hit ball.

“In the second ballgame I though our guys responded well,” Guilliams said. “Roman Donofro threw outstanding out of the bullpen and we swung the bats well.”

Derrick Davis is a sports reporter at the Valdosta Daily Times.