FLORENCE, Ala. – Valdosta State baseball wrapped up an unfinished contest on Saturday for a 5-3 victory before closing out their 2016 season with a 5-0 victory over the North Alabama Lions at Mike Lane Field in Florence, Ala.
The Blazers, who went into extra innings on Friday against the Lions and took a 5-2 lead in the top half of the tenth inning, were forced to finish off Game 1 of the series on Saturday after a thunderstorm halted play on Friday. The Blazers allowed the Lions one run in the final half inning of the game on Saturday before sealing the victory.
Colby Wisdom (2-0) earned the win in relief for the Blazers, while Troy Massaro picked up the final two outs to secure his second save of the year.
Game two featured an impressive outing by Kellan Bailey, who dealt six innings of scoreless work on the hill. With the help of the Blazer offense, who racked up five runs on eight hits, Bailey improved to 7-5 overall, while Massaro came on yet again for VSU to cap off the shutout with three dominant frames.
Valdosta State’s offensive firepower in the second game included a series of timely hits, beginning with back-to-back base hits by Chipper Andzel and Dalton Duty, which set Marcus Sigmon up for an RBI grounder to short. The run represented one of two for the Blazers in the opening frame and put VSU in front 2-0 early.
The Blazers added on in the top of the third when Cliff Bryant drove in a run from third with a runner at third base to put VSU up 3-0, and the lead was extended further when Ryan Slaughter reached on an error, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a passed ball in the sixth.
Working with a 4-0 lead, Valdosta State cushioned their lead in the eighth after Bryant walked to lead off the inning and moved into scoring position on a Jaykob Graham sacrifice bunt. Bryant proceeded to steal third base on a strikeout promptly scored during the next at-bat on another wild pitch.
The win gave the Blazers a 27-17 finish on the year and an 18-12 finish in GSC play. VSU’s conference record placed VSU just half of a game shy of the Lee Flames, who finished at 18-11 after their games on Saturday against No. 17 West Florida were cancelled due to inclement weather.
VStateBlazers.com
