ROME, Ga. - The No. 19 Valdosta State baseball team split its doubleheader versus the Hawks as it took game one 4-0 but fell 9-0 in the second game.
 
The Blazers (7-4, 6-4 Gulf South Conference) secured its fourth straight win and only allowed four hits during the 4-0 game one victory as starting pitcher Elijah Gill saw seven innings and only allowed two hits. David Maberry led the team during the victory in runs batted in with two off of his two hits. Shorter came right back and got the 9-0 victory as it only let up three hits from the Blazers coming in the later innings. Over the course of the two games, the Blazers got outhit 16-11 as Maberry led with three hits. The pitching core struck out 14 batters with just four walks for nine earned runs.
 
The Blazers wrap up its weekend series at Shorter with a single game tomorrow, Feb. 28, at 1 p.m. Fans can access links to live stats, audio/video streaming and ticket information for the games at vstateblazers.com on the baseball schedule page.
 
#19 VALDOSTA STATE 4, SHORTER 0
 
The Blazers were able to get momentum right from the start as Maberry ripped a single into the gap to bring in Jowenrick Daantji where Maberry found second after a passed ball. Chase Coker grounded out to the first baseman but brought in Nick Lewis to give the Blazers a two-run advantage after the first.
 
Gill was dealing during his outing where he walked three batters after three innings which would be the only batters that drew walks against him. Both teams defense was showing out during the middle innings where the game saw just three hits from the bottom of the first through the bottom of the fifth.
 
The Blazers would add on to its run total after Lewis opened up the hitting with a double to left field and Maberry was able to drive him in during the next at-bat with a single to right field. Coker connected for a single but that was all the action the Blazers saw in the sixth, extending its lead to three. After two quick one, two, three innings from both teams, Gill was replaced after allowing just two hits with no runs and four strikeouts.
 
The Blazers had one more inning to give itself some insurance runs as Coker singled to third and found third during the next batter as Jakob Sessa singled to right. Logan Stephens brought in Coker with a deep single to left but the Blazers grounded into a double play to end the inning with just one run.
 
Zach Henderson came in for relief for Gill in the eighth and matched his play, facing just seven batters during two innings and finished the game with a strikeout, helping lead the Blazers to a 4-0 victory.
 
SHORTER 9, #19 VALDOSTA STATE 0
 
The Hawks came out quick and rallied with two outs to find batters on the base pads. A double brought in a Hawk and placed two runners in scoring position to set up a single to left to bring in those runners. Tristan Cone ended the short run with a strike out, but the Hawks took advantage to take a 3-0 lead.
 
Just like game one of the doubleheader, both teams only saw two hits from the third through the sixth, with Cone dialing in after the second inning. The Hawks saw strong pitching as its starter was throwing a no-hitter until Maberry broke it up with a single to left field. The Hawks put the pressure on in the bottom of the seventh as a three-run homerun extended the Shorter lead to 6-0 with just one out. A double followed by a homerun brought two more runners across the plate to now give the Hawks an eight-run advantage late in the game.
 
Sessa attempted to start a comeback with a single but was sent back to the dugout after a fielder's choice the following batter. Collin Teegarden smacked a double to put two runners in scoring position, but the Blazers came up short as the next two batters were put away. The Hawks added one more insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to extend its lead to 9-0 and forced the Blazers to go three up and three down to hand the Blazers the loss.