VALDOSTA, Ga. – Hayden Jones was two-for-three, including his first career home run, and drove in three runs to lead Valdosta State to a 7-5 victory over North Georgia in the season opener for both teams in baseball action at Billy Grant Field Sunday afternoon.
North Georgia struck first in the game as it got a two-run home run from Tremayne Toorie with two outs. After a ground out and a fly out to open the game, Steven Tomlinson singled to right before Toorie sent an 0-1 pitch over the wall in left for a 2-0 Nighthawk lead.
Valdosta state responded with a run in the bottom of the frame. With one out in the frame,
Michael Gouge was hit by a pitch and stole second base. Two batters later,
Hayden Jones singled to left field to drive Gouge home and cut the VSU deficit in half.
The Blazers evened the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Bryant Hayman singled on a hard line drive to open the inning before Jones was hit by a pitch. A balk moved both batters up a base before
Bobby Rice hit a sacrifice fly to right that plated Hayman.
Jones put the Blazers in front 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth with his first career home run. With one out in the frame, Hayman hit a bloop single down the right field line that fell between the UNG first baseman, second baseman and rightfielder. Jones proceeded to work a 2-1 count before hitting the ball off the "Catch the Fire" sign in right-center field to give VSU its first lead of the game.
Valdosta State pushed its advantage to 7-2 in the bottom of the seventh.
Brandon Harmon singled with one out in the frame and stole second before moving to third on a wild pitch.
Mike Reed followed with a double down the right-field line to drive Harmon home for the fifth Blazer run of the game. After a walk to Gouge, Hayman singled home Reed while Gouge scored on a two-out single by
Kevin Cruz.
The Nighthawks got a run back in the top of the eighth inning as Toorie hit a sacrifice fly that plated Joey Cecere while Cameron Crawford hit a two-run homer with two outs in the top of the ninth for the game's final runs.
Hayman finished the contest with three hits in four plate appearances and scored twice for the Blazers while Cruz and Harmon each tallied two hits.
Kyle Andre gave up just one hit in three innings of relief on the mound to earn his first victory for VSU.
Kellan Bailey recorded the game's final out for his first save.
Toorie finished the game two-for-three with RBI to lead North Georgia offensively while Steven Tomlinson also had two hits. Nighthawk starting pitcher Brandon Agar surrendered six hits and four runs in 5.1 innings as he took the loss.
Valdosta State returns to action Wednesday, February 4 when it travels to Saint Augustine, Fla. to face Flagler at 5:00 p.m. at Drysdale Field.
