VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State baseball team plated three runs in the bottom of the fourth breaking a tie game en route to a 7-3 win over visiting Rollins Sunday afternoon, completing the three-game sweep of the Tars.
 
The Blazers improved to 11-3 on the year and won their seventh-straight game with seven runs on seven hits and one error.  Rollins (9-7) had three runs on ten hits and three errors.
 
VSU was led by two hits each from seniors David Maberry and Alex Aleywine as Maberry was 2 for 3 with a run scored, three RBI and his team-leading fifth home run of the year, while Aleywine went 2 for 3 with two runs scored, one RBI and a double.  He also pitched the final 1.1 innings, allowing one hit and fanned three, earning his third save of the season.  Senior Nick Lewis went 1 for with two runs scored and an RBI.
 
Rollins had three hits from Luke Reidy on a 3 for 4 day with a walk, while Cameron Meehan went 3 for 5 with two runs scored and a double.  Andres Antonini went 2 for 5 with an RBI, along with two doubles.  The Tars, who outhit the Blazers, left 12 stranded on base in the game to just five stranded for the Blazers.
 
VSU senior Tristan Cone improved to 4-0 on the year in six innings on the hill, allowing eight hits, three runs – two earned, walked three and fanned six.  The Blazer bullpen was great again on Sunday as seniors Bryce Van Horn, Alex Tyson and Aleywine combined to allow two hits, walked one and fanned four. 
 
The Blazers jumped on the board first as senior Jordan Holt reached on miscue to begin the bottom of the inning. Aleywine belted his third double of the season with two away and Maberry singled him home on a 3-2 count for a 1-0 lead off Tars' starter Steven Swift. 
 
Rollins evened the game in the top of the second as Sam LaFontaine doubled down the right field line and Joe Cosgrove singled home LaFontaine for a 1-1 score.  In the bottom of the fourth, the Blazers took command of the game as Aleywine walked to begin the inning and Maberry blasted a two-run shot to left center for a 3-1 lead.  With the bases loaded, Swift's pitch went wide as senior Logan Stephens scored for a 4-1 lead. 
 
The Tars then pulled within 4-2 in the top of the fifth loading the bases with nobody out and a catcher's interference call scored a run.  Cone was backed up by his defense as the Blazers turned a great 523 double play ending the inning leaving two stranded Tars for the second-straight frame.
 
Tate Stone-Frisina relieved Ross Korosec to begin the bottom of the fifth.  Stone-Frisina, who blew the save yesterday for the Tars, as Lewis hit a huge double off the wall setting up the walk-off sacrifice fly from senior Jordan Holt in the 4-3 win, belted his third home run of the season for a 5-2 lead.  Rollins stayed within striking distance with a run in the seventh for a 5-3 score, but VSU added more insurance runs in the bottom of the frame as Holt hit an infield single off the pitcher's glove and a pair of Tars' miscues led to two runs for a 7-3 lead.
 
With two on in the top of the eighth, Aleywine moved from first base to pitch and he got a fielder's choice out for the final out of the inning as Rollins, once again, left multiple players on base.  Aleywine retired the Tars via strikeouts in the ninth.
 
Swift (2-2) took the loss in 3.1 innings, allowing four hits, four earned runs, walked three and fanned two.  Stone-Frisina was tagged with three runs on three hits, with just one being earned, in 2.1 innings.
 
The Blazers continue at home on Wednesday at 5 p.m. as they welcome Thomas University for a non-conference game and then return to league play on Friday evening to begin a three-game series against Lee.