ROME, Ga. - With the score tied in the bottom of the ninth,
Beau Blair came on in relief and held Shorter scoreless long enough for the Valdosta State baseball team to score a 3-2, 14-inning victory over the Hawks in the Gulf South Conference series finale on Sunday afternoon in Rome, Ga.
The win marked Blair's second of the season and lifted VSU to a 16-7 overall record and an 8-4 conference record. Following the loss for the Hawks, Shorter fell to 14-8 overall and 5-7 against conference opponents.
Shorter broke a 0-0 tie in the bottom of the third, when starter
Cooper Cain allowed his only run of the game on a walk and two singles in the inning.
Two innings later, Head Coach
Greg Guilliams called on
Daniel Williams out of the bullpen, and with some help from his defense, the righty pitched around three hits and a walk to escape the fifth inning unscathed.
Valdosta State took advantage of the opportunity in the next half inning, as
Max Abramson drew a leadoff walk before using a passed ball and a wild pitch to move all the way up to third base. Two batters later, leadoff hitter
Kendall Herron gave the Blazer offense a boost and tied the game at 1-1 with a sacrifice fly to right field.
In the eighth,
Dalton Murray ignited the Blazers yet again with a leadoff double. After advancing on a fielding error, a passed ball allowed Murray to score the go-ahead run and give VSU a 2-1 lead.
The Hawks returned the blow in the bottom of the same inning with a double and a single by Dustin Lawson and Luis Acevedo, respectively. The tally knotted the game up at 2-2 and represented the only run allowed by Williams during his 4.1 innings of work.
Blair relieved Williams in the top of the ninth and survived a scare in the eleventh, when Shorter's Bailey Gerstner ripped a leadoff double to right center. With nobody out and Gerstner representing the winning run at second base, Raul Cortes moved the runner up 90 feet with a sacrifice bunt. Guilliams elected to intentionally walk the next two batters to load the bases, and the move paid off when Jack Leech grounded out to
Elias Macias at third base for an inning-ending double play.
Valdosta State's
Tyler Homer belted what looked to be a solo home run in the top of the 12th, but Blaze Vazquez made a highlight-reel catch at the top of the wall to turn VSU away.
As Blair continued to mow down the Hawks, VSU gave the senior the one run he needed in the top half of the 14th after Abramson led the frame off with a single, moved up on a
Kyle Jones sacrifice bunt, and came around to score the go-ahead run on one of
Ryan Slaughter's two hits in the game.
The three Blazer pitchers teamed up for 13 strikeouts in the joint effort, and Blair allowed just one hit during his 5.2 innings of scoreless work. Meanwhile, Harrison Shubert suffered the loss to fall to 1-2.
Valdosta State survived and pulled out the win, despite eight innings of work by Shorter starter Jerry Liang, during which he struck out eight and allowed just three hits.
The Blazers will receive a brief hiatus this week before returning to action at home with a three-game set next weekend, beginning with a doubleheader against Union at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.
