VALDOSTA, Ga. – Valdosta State turned in dominating performances at the plate and on the mound in both games as the Blazers defeated Paine 15-0 in both games of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Billy Grant Field.
 
Valdosta State (3-0) opened the scoring with an RBI single by Bryant Hayman in the bottom of the first inning before exploding for eight runs in the second inning. The Blazers sent 12 batters to the plate in the second and collected seven hits, including a three-run home run by Hayden Jones, his second of the season.
 
VSU added its 10^th run of the game in the fourth inning before adding five more, including Kevin Cruz's first career home run, in the bottom of sixth inning.
 
The Blazers pounded out 17 hits in the first game as Mike Reed finished with three to go along with three runs batted in and two runs scored. Jones and Cruz, who also both drove in three runs and scored twice, finished with two hits each, as did Michael Gouge, Hayman and Bobby Rice.
 
Mitchell Cody, who improved to 1-0, allowed just two base runners in the game as he gave up a single in the third inning and walked a batter in the fifth, but neither runner advanced beyond first base. Meanwhile, the junior, who pitched 6.2 innings, struck out 10 batters, including a pair in the top of the seventh before he was lifted. James Ethredge struck out the only batter he faced to end the game.
 
The two starting pitchers dominated the early innings of game two before Valdosta State sent 12 batters to the plate in the fourth inning and scored eight runs. The Blazers tallied seven hits in the frame, including RBI singles by Hayman, Jones, Rice and Jayk Graham, but also saw Paine (1-5) commit four errors in the frame.
 
Valdosta State added seven more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Gouge, Hayman, Cruz and Dominique Smedley all had run-scoring hits in the inning while David Wortham and Jayk Graham hit sacrifice flies.
 
Kyle Andre pitched 6.0 innings for the Blazers and allowed just one hit, a single in the first inning. He faced the minimum as the base runner was caught stealing and the junior retired the final 15 batters he faced, including five via strikeouts.
 
Graham and Hayman each had two hits and two runs batted in to lead VSU offensively in the game. Gouge and Jones also had two hits each for the Blazers.
 
The two teams conclude the three-game series Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.