Valdosta State’s baseball team swept a doubleheader against defending Division II national champion West Florida on Saturday at Billy Grant Field.

In game 1, Valdosta State built a 6-1 lead and held off a late Argonaut rally to win 6-4. Then in game 2, Nick Fogarty pitched a six-hit shutout to lead the Blazers to a 2-0 win.

The Blazers and the Argonauts will wrap up their three-game series today at 1 p.m. at Billy Grant Field. It will be Senior Day. All of VSU’s senior players will be recognized before the game.

Game 1: Valdosta State 6, West Florida 4

The Blazers took the lead in the second inning of Game 1, and held it the rest of the game.

Valdosta State scored two runs in the second, then added four more runs in the fifth to build a 6-1 lead, while VSU starter Pete Whittingslow was putting up zeroes on the scoreboard.

But national championship teams don’t give up easily, and West Florida, the defending Division II champion, wasn’t ready to throw in the towel when it trailed 6-1 going into the top of the ninth. West Florida’s Leo Lamarche led off the ninth with an infield single. Then Taye Larry went the other way with a Benjamin Weil pitch, dropped it into shallow right field and sped into second base with a double. Eric Sauls walked to load the bases. Weil hit Dustin Saulmon with a pitch, scoring Lamarche. Then Weil chased down a ball near the first base line and flipped it to Christian Glisson for a force out at home. But Josh Huggins drew a bases loaded walk, then Korey Domenick beat out a chopper near the third base line, scoring Saulmon and cutting VSU’s lead to 6-4.

The bases were loaded with one out, the tying run was standing on second base and the go-ahead run was on first. But Weil refused to let those runners get any closer to home plate. He froze Max St. Hilaire with strike three on the outside corner of the plate. Then he got Garrett Flynn to swing and miss at strike three for the final out.

Weil got the final five outs to preserve the win for Whittingslow (5-4), who held the Argonauts to one run and six hits in 7 1/3 innings and struck out eight.

Valdosta State took the lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. After West Florida pitcher Josh Tanski retired the first two batters, Andrew Lawrence singled to center. Buster Jackson bunted in front of the mound, and reached safely after Tanski slipped and fell while trying to field the ball. The two runners moved up on a wild pitch, then Steven Groves singled to center, scoring Lawrence and Jackson and giving the Blazers a 2-0 lead.

West Florida answered in the top of the third. Larry singled just in front of the right fielder to lead off the inning, then stole his 32nd base of the season. One out later, Saulmon singled to center, scoring Larry. An infield single and a passed ball put two runners in scoring position with just one out. But Whittingslow escaped further damage, striking out Huggins and getting Blake Barber to line out to center.

Then the Blazers exploded for four runs in the fifth. Jackson started the inning with a single, stole second and scored on Ryan Noelte’s single to right. Chaz Bagwell followed with a single under the glove of a diving shortstop, and Noelte scored from second, giving the Blazers a 4-1 lead. After West Florida changed pitchers, Marc Overstreet reached base on catcher’s interference. The two runners executed a double steal, then Glisson was intentionally walked to load the bases. Bryant Hayman was hit by a pitch, scoring Bagwell, then Overstreet raced home on a wild pitch, giving the Blazers a 6-1 lead.

Bagwell, Jackson and Noelte had two hits apiece for Valdosta State, while Groves drove in two runs.

Larry went 3 for 4 for West Florida and scored a run. Lamarche was 2 for 4, and Saulmon had two RBIs. Josh Tanski (4-4) took the loss.

Game 2: Valdosta State 2, West Florida 0

Game 2 was a pitcher’s duel between Valdosta State’s Nick Fogarty and West Florida’s Jake Stephens.

The Blazers scored the only two runs of the game in the fourth inning. With one out, Cameron Graves hit a ground ball that went between the legs of Lamarche, the UWF second baseman. Then Bryant Hayman blasted his eighth home run of the year over the fence in left center to put Valdosta State in front 2-0.

That would be enough run support for Fogarty. The VSU left-hander pitched a complete game and allowed six hits to improve to 2-0 on the year. He struck out six batters. It was Valdosta State’s fifth shutout of the year.

West Florida loaded the bases in the first inning and put a runner on third in the second inning, but both times, Fogarty got big outs to keep the Argonauts from scoring. UWF also put two runners on base in the seventh, but Fogarty struck out the final two hitters to close out the win.

The Blazers got just three hits in the game, one each from Overstreet, Glisson and Hayman.

Stephens (5-3) also pitched a complete game, allowing two runs and three hits and striking out eight. Lamarche went 3 for 3.