CLEVELAND, Miss. – The Valdosta State baseball team went toe-to-toe with the No. 4 team in the nation on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Division II South Regional Tournament in Cleveland, Miss. In the end, however, the Tampa Spartans outlasted the Blazers and used a late surge to end VSU’s season with a 14-5 loss.

Tampa jumped on the board early with two first inning runs and followed with three additional tallies in the top of the second inning when JD Osborne lifted a two-run shot over the outfield wall in center field.

The Blazers didn’t back down and went right after Christian Calleja in the bottom of the second with four hits, including an RBI single by BJ White and a 2-run base knock by Elias Macias. In the next two innings, Valdosta State continued to produce offensively during the next two innings, as Chipper Andzel was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for an RBI, and senior Ryan Slaughter tied the game at 5-5 with an RBI single that scored Macias in the fourth.

The gridlock didn’t hold for long, thanks to a three-run top half of the fifth inning for the Spartans, and Valdosta State’s chances ultimately faded when Tampa put six on the board with six hits in the seventh inning.

Daniel Williams (1-2) was pegged with the loss for the Blazers, while Cheyne Bickel (7-4) notched the win for the Spartans. Tampa’s win kept them alive in the NCAA South Regional with a 39-13 record, while the Blazers closed out with a 33-22 mark during the 2017 season.

Six different Blazers recorded hits on Saturday, while Slaughter, White, and Andzel each posted multiple hits in the game. Luke Suchon added a double to extend his hitting streak to four games. The junior closed out the year with at least one hit in seven of his last eight games, and finished the season with a .364 batting average.

The Spartans advanced to face West Alabama in an elimination game on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. EST.