VALDOSTA, GA – Valdosta State’s Mike Reed was named the Gulf South Conference Baseball Player of the Week for the second straight week, according to an announcement made by the league office Tuesday.
Reed batted .643 over the course of four games last week while scoring five runs and driving in six in leading the Blazers to a 4-0 record on the week. The junior shortstop had at least two hits in all four games and also drove in a run in all four games while scoring in three of the contests.
The Middleburg, Fla. native opened the week by going 2-of-5 with two runs scored and a RBI in a 15-7 win over Albany State before going 3-for-4 with a run scored and one driven in in a 10-0 series opening win over Shorter on Saturday. He also went 2-of-2 with a RBI in the second game against Shorter, a 3-1 Blazer victory, before closing out the week by going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and three driven in in the series finale, an 11-0 VSU win.
On the season, Reed is hitting .567 and has scored 14 runs while driving in 16. He is a perfect 7-of-7 in stolen base attempts on the year and has a .615 on-base average and a .700 slugging percentage. Reed leads the Gulf South Conference in batting average, on-base percentage, hits and stolen bases and stands second in slugging percentage, runs scored and RBI, third in doubles and sacrifice bunts as well as seventh in walks drawn.
BLAZERS JUMP TO NO. 4 IN COLLEGIATE BASEBALL NEWS POLL
Off to its best start since 1978, which is as far back as the Valdosta State records stretch, VSU moved from No. 21 in the Collegiate Baseball News Division II poll to No. 4 in the first poll of the season. The Blazers have opened the 2014 season with wins in each of their first nine games, including a 3-0 start in Gulf South Conference play. VSU has succeeded on both the mound and at the plate in the early going as Valdosta State’s pitchers have combined for a 1.97 earned run average while the squad is batting .348 collectively. The Blazers have out-scored their opponents 102-21 through the first nine games of the year.
Source: Valdosta State University Athletics
