Pat Gallagher | The Valdosta Daily TimesValdosta State University’s Steven Groves (24) hits against West Georgia during the first game Saturday afternoon as the Billy Grant Field.

No. 29 Valdosta State saw a lead slip away as West Georgia claimed a 7-3 victory in game while before the Blazers rebounded for a 7-2 win in game two of a Gulf South Conference doubleheader at Cole Field Saturday afternoon.

With the series split, VSU goes to 19-12 on the season and 10-4 in GSC play while West Georgia moved to 18-16 overall and 9-8 in league play.

 West Georgia used a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the second inning to grab an early 1-0 lead before Marc Overstreet singled and scored on Christian Glisson’s sixth home run of the year to put VSU in front 2-1.

Steven Groves reached on a leadoff double off the top of the left-center field wall in the fourth inning and, after a single by Ryan Noelte, scored on an Overstreet sacrifice fly to push the Blazer lead to 3-1 while the two starting pitchers dominated the next three innings.

After seeing VSU starter Kevin Rogers sit down nine straight batters, the Wolves got a run back in the sixth inning as Galen Smith drew a one-out walk and moved to second on a wild pitch before coming around to score when Andy Marinelli singled to right.

The Wolves plated two more runs in the seventh inning to take a 4-3 advantage.  Brett Wright singled to open the seventh and moved to second on a ground out before scoring when Adam Whitlock reached on an infield single in which the throw from Austin Lawrence at third sailed wide of the bag. Whitlock moved to second on the throw and scored after a pair of wild pitches by VSU reliever Jarod Carlton for the go-ahead run. West Georgia closed out the scoring with three more runs in the eighth inning.

 Chase Riemer improved to 3-1 on the year for West Georgia as he allowed nine hits and three earned runs in 8.0 innings of work. Meanwhile, Carlton fell to 4-1 for VSU after surrendering five runs on three hits and three walks in 1.1 innings.

 Glisson and Bryant Hayman had two hits each to lead VSU offensively in game one.

Valdosta State opened the scoring in the top of the first inning of game two with a pair of runs. Noelte singled to open the game and moved to third as Glisson also collected a base hit while a Cameron Graves ground out drove him home. Byrant Hayman followed with a single to left that scored Glisson for the 2-0 VSU lead.

The Blazers added a run in the third inning with the use of a bases loaded wild pitch before West Georgia got its first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth. Blazer starter Pete Whittingslow limited the damage in the fourth as, with the bases loaded and just one out, he struck out the leadoff and No. 2 hitter in the Wolf lineup to get out of the inning leading 3-1. VSU got two more runs in the top of the fifth inning as Chaz Bagwell collected a bases loaded single and Groves collected a sacrifice fly before Glisson hit his second home run of the day to push the Blazer advantage to 6-1 in the top of the sixth.

 Alex Smith reached on a lead-off and came around to score when Bagwell singled in the top of the seventh while the Wolves scored four in the bottom of the frame for the final score.

Pete Whittingslow allowed 10 hits and two runs while striking out six in 6.1 innings of work to improve to 4-2 on the season. West Georgia’s Cody Skinner surrendered five hits and three runs to fall to 5-3.

Noelte led VSU with three hits and two runs scored in the game while Glisson, Hayman and Bagwell all finished with two hits each.

Valdosta State returns to action Wednesday, April 11 when it travels to Americus to face Georgia Southwestern at 5:00 p.m.