VALDOSTA, Ga. – Coming off a 2-1 weekend, the Valdosta State baseball team returns home to open Gulf South Conference play with a three-game series against Shorter, beginning Saturday.  
 
The series gets underway Saturday at 1 p.m. at Billy Grant Field at Tommy Thomas Park with a doubleheader, followed by a single game at 1 p.m. Sunday.  Fans can access links to live stats, streaming, ticket information and more at vstateblazers.com on the baseball schedule page.  
 
The Blazers (3-2) won two of three games last weekend in Wingate, N.C., dropping the opener to Wingate, 8-6, before a pair of blowout wins in a 10-4 victory over Florida Tech and a 13-0 win against Palm Beach Atlantic.  The Blazers had a chance for the win in the game against Wingate, but a three-run blast by the Bulldogs in the eighth sealed the deal.  VSU responded from a 4-1 deficit to take a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the eighth.  
 
Despite that, VSU hit .304 for the weekend, outscoring the opposition 29-12, with 31 hits, five doubles, one triple, five home runs and 24 RBI.  VSU slugged .520 and reached base at a .462 clip with 27 walks.  VSU was 2 for 5 in stolen bases and had a .981 fielding percentage with two errors leading to no unearned runs.  
 
Senior Mike Christopoulos led the team in hits with five as he went 5 of 11 from the dish (.455) with five runs scored, two doubles, one home run and two RBI.  Seniors David Maberry and Jakob Sessa each had four hits, while Maberry led the team with two home runs and scored four runs.  Sessa was 4 for 5 with one double and three RBI, while scoring two runs for a team-best .800 average.  He slugged 1.000 and reached base at an .875 clip with two walks.  
 
On the mound, the Blazers had a 4.15 ERA for the week in 26 innings, allowing 25 hits, 12 earned runs, walked 10 and fanned 32 as the opposition hit .246 against them.  Senior Cooper Cain earned a win in the combined shutout of PBA, going five innings, allowing three hits, walked three and fanned six.  Senior Zach Blankenship went 1-0 in six innings of work, allowing five hits, three earned runs, walked none and fanned seven in the win over Florida Tech.  
 
Shorter enters the week with a 6-0 record and is scheduled to play Morehouse College on Tuesday, prior to heading to Valdosta.  The Hawks had home wins over Erskine and a doubleheader sweep of Mars Hill over the weekend, while sweeping a three-game series against Miles College the first weekend. 
 
The Hawks are hitting .262 for the season on 43 of 164, while scoring 34 runs with 11 doubles, two home runs and 30 RBI.  The team is slugging .366, while reaching base at a .430 clip with 44 walks.  SU is 19 of 23 in stolen bases this season, while recording eight errors for a .960 fielding percentage.  The eight errors have led to four unearned runs.
 
Individually, Nathaniel Butterworth leads the team with seven hits in 21 at bats, while scoring three runs with three doubles and eight RBI.  Justin Guyton has six hits in 18 at bats, with five runs scored, two doubles and five RBI.  Justin Barnes has six hits with four runs scored and two RBI, while Kaleeq Brannigan leads the team with two home runs.  
 
On the bump, SU has a 2.06 ERA in 48 innings, allowing 36 hits, 15 runs – 11 earned, walked 17 and fanned 46 with teams hitting .208 against it.  Coleton Barnes leads the team with a 2-0 record in 8.2 innings, allowing six hits, two earned runs, walked one and fanned six.  Jonathan Pintaro is 1-0 in a team-high ten innings, allowing seven hits, four runs – two earned, walked five and fanned 12.  
 
The Hawks and Blazers had their series washed out in Rome, Ga., last season.  VSU leads the series 12-4 since 2013 and won two of three in Valdosta in 2018.  The Blazers are 9-1 during that span against Shorter in Valdosta.  
 
Shorter was picked 11^th in the GSC Preseason Poll, released in January and had two players named to the Preseason All-Conference Team in Michael Avendano and Bailey Gerstner, who both earned all-conference honors previously.  Avendano earned first team honors last season as a designated hitter, while Gerstner was a second team selection as an outfielder.  Last season, the Hawks went 22-21 overall and 11-14 in Gulf South Conference play as they earned a berth in the GSC Championship, losing to West Florida and Montevallo.  
 
Prior to last weekend, the Blazers went 1-1 against Embry-Riddle in Valdosta as one game in the series was cancelled due to inclement weather.  VSU also had a game against Thomas University postponed, which now will be played Mar. 4 in Valdosta.
 
For the season, Christopoulos and Maberry lead the team with eight hits each, while Maberry has a team-high two home runs and seven runs scored.  Christopoulos leas theteam with five RBI and is hitting .471 for the season.  He is slugging .824 and reaching base at a .550 clip.  
 
On the mound, the Blazers are led by senior Tristan Cone, who has pitched a team-high 10 innings, allowing 13 hits, seven earned runs, walked four and fanned 15.  He is 1-0 on the year, while Cain is 1-1 in 9.2 innings. 
 
Following the series with Shorter, VSU travels to Saint Leo for a Feb. 18 game, followed by a series at Auburn Montgomery (Feb. 21-22) and then will return home to host Georgia Southwestern on Feb. 25 at 5 p.m., before hosting Rollins a three-game series to close out the first month of the season.