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VALDOSTA — The Valdosta State Blazer baseball team knocked off the No. 7 Saint Leo Lions on Wednesday evening at Billy Grant Field. The Blazers pick up their second ranked win of the season as they improve to 20-13 (12-9 GSC), while the Lions dropped to 30-6 (14-4 SSC).

The bullpen was lights out for VSU as junior Garrett Sagro, freshman Jacob King, sophomore Raynel Ortiz, and junior Nick Ferrara combined for five innings and allowed three hits for one earned run while striking out four.

Jacob King picked up his first career win in his hometown while Nick Ferrara earned his sixth save in as many attempts.

At the plate, sophomore DJ Banks tied a season high in hits with three and recorded a double. Leadoff hitter Pedro Moreno extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a 2-5 performance. The Blazers will now look ahead to Friday as they host the red-hot Delta State Statesmen, who have won eight straight games.

Back-to-back singles had runners on the corners with one out, where Saint Leo executed a double steal to take a 1-0 lead and were hunting for more runs. A dropped ball on a perfectly executed pickoff resulted in another run to cross the plate as SLU now led 2-0 through an inning and a half.

Junior Hunter Stowe opened the bottom of the second with ground-rule double into left center field. Senior David Crawford cashed Stowe in with a single up the middle to cut the deficit in half. Banks followed that up with a bloop single in no man’s land to put runners at the corners.

On a hit and run, a liner up the middle from redshirt sophomore Will Beckham just dropped out of the centerfielder’s glove to bring home two and give the Blazers a 3-2 lead through two.

Saint Leo regained the lead, now up 4-3. Another leadoff double in the bottom of the frame ignited things for VSU, as Dennis Pierce roped one to left just over the left fielder’s head. Stowe hit his second double of the day in the left field corner to trade places with Pierce and tie things up again through three.

After a quick top of fourth, Banks ripped a ball off the third baseman’s glove to kick off the home half with a runner in scoring position for a third straight inning. Moreno cashed him in with a rocket off the bat into right-center to retake the lead. Senior Ryan Romano jumped on the very next pitch as he laced a ball into the left field corner to grow the Blazer lead to two and knock the Lion starter out of the game with the Blazers up 6-4.

Jovanni Canegitta did his job and lifted a sacrifice fly to left as VSU was leading 7-4 through four innings.

Saint Leo jumped back in to keep the Blazers up 7-6 heading into the bottom of the fifth.

Both pitchers started to get into a groove, as Saint Leo’s Kaelan Racculia and Valdosta State’s Jacob King got through the sixth and seventh frame without allowing a run.

In the top of the eighth, Ray Ortiz came in for his fifth appearance of the 2024 campaign. After forcing a weak flyout to open things up, Ortiz threw a backdoor slider to catch the Lions looking for the second out of the inning. A beautiful diving stop by Moreno got the Blazers out of the eighth inning unscathed, still leading 7-6.

Junior Nick Ferrara came in for the final three outs.

Valdosta State will continue to cook at home, as they host Delta State for a three-game set starting on Friday, April 12 at 5 p.m. followed by a doubleheader on Saturday, April 13 starting at 1 p.m.