VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State baseball team was unable to overcome a 5-1 deficit in the second inning in a 7-3 loss to visiting Brewton-Parker at Billy Grant Field at Tommy Thomas Park. The loss dropped VSU to 12-8 on the year, while Brewton-Parker improved to 9-14.
VSU tallied three runs on nine hits with two errors, while the Barons scored seven runs on nine hits with no errors.
The Blazers opened the scoring in the first inning as senior
Josh Broughton doubled and scored on a single to left center from senior
DJ King all with two outs.
In the top of the second, BWC tallied five runs on two hits with one error as walks plagued the Blazers in the frame. VSU junior starter
Zach Blankenship (1-1) went just one inning, allowing one hit, five runs – four earned, walked three and fanned two in his shortest start of the season. Junior
Bryce Van Horn got out of the inning, allowing one hit, walked one and fanned two, but the damage already happened.
VSU left two more stranded in the third, but plated two runs in the bottom of the fourth as senior Matt Hathcock doubled, putting two runners in scoring position for junior
Jowenrick Daantji, who tripled down the right field line, for a 5-3 deficit.
The Blazers left runners stranded in the fifth and sixth innings, before two bases loaded RBI singles from the Barons in the seventh pushed the margin to 7-3. VSU put two more on base in the ninth with one out and one in scoring position, but BWC got a strikeout and a pop out to end the game.
Hathcock went 2 for 4 with a run scored as the only player with multiple hits. Britt Evans went 3 for 5 with two RBI for the Barons. BWC pitcher Ryan Dopson earned the win.
The Blazers now will return to league play as they travel to Mississippi College. The series now will be Sunday-Monday as the forecast is for inclement weather during portions of the weekend in Clinton, Miss. VSU and the Choctaws now are scheduled for a doubleheader Sunday, beginning at 1 p.m. ET, followed by a single game Monday at 1 p.m. ET.
