VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 19 Valdosta State baseball team came away with two wins during its season opener, beating Mississippi College 9-2 during the first game and 9-0 the game following.
 
The Blazers (2-0) hit .365 for the day with 24 hits, 18 runs scored and seven doubles. David Maberry and Chase Coker are tie for the teams highest batting average with .571.
 
VSU will face Mississippi College Monday at 1:00 p.m., to conclude its home series.  Fans can access links to live stats and video streaming at vstateblazers.com on the baseball schedule page.
 
#19 Valdosta State 9, Mississippi College 2
 
The Blazers were able to go three up and three down with help from a swing and a miss to give Gill his first strikeout of the game. After two Blazers were hit during its first time at-bat, the team went away empty handed, leaving two left on base. Another three batters came to the plate in the top of the second for the Choctaws but got sent right back into the dugout after three quick outs. After Coker got hit by a pitch on the fourth pitch in the bottom inning and stole second once he got one, the Blazers had a runner in scoring position. Three straight walks from the Choctaws saw Coker find home plate and give the Blazers a 1-0 lead early in the ball game. Mississippi College finally got a runner on base in the third, but Gill was able to retire two of the next three batters and caught the runner at first stealing to stay hitless through three.
 
The Blazers got the bats hot during the fourth inning where Maberry singled through the left side on an 2-0 count to bring home two runners and increase the lead to 3-0. E. J. Doskow, who saw the plate next, was able to tack on one more with a deep single to center where the score remained 4-0 after four innings played.
 
The Blazers saw action at the plate during its next at-bat during the bottom frame of the fifth with the fourth Blazer who got hit by a pitch to take first. On a 1-2 count, Ralph Morla Jr. doubled which helped Ryan Delnegro advance to third which put him in position to secure a run off a wild pitch. After a pitching change for the Choctaws and Morla Jr. in scoring position at third, Ben Rowdon was able to send one to left field for a sacrifice fly to bring Morla Jr. home to put the Blazers up six.
 
It wasn't until the top of the seventh where Elijah Gill gave up his first run and finished his first outing in a Blazer uniform with 8 K's and only gave up two runs and four hits. The Choctaws were only able to come away with two runs during the seventh but cut it's deficit to just four.
 
On the first pitch in the bottom of the eighth, Rowdon hit one deep out of the park into left field for a homerun and got the team going. Delnegro knocked down a double which sent two Blazers across the plate to put the game out of reach at 9-2 heading into the top of the ninth. Jeremy Adams came in to close the game out where he only needed three batters to do so, securing the win for the Blazers with a final score of 9-2.
 
VSU (1-0) had nine total hits with Rowdon leading the team with two along with a game best of two RBI's. Mississippi College had four hits along with one error, with George Farid leading the team with two hits.
 
#19 Valdosta State 9, Mississippi College 0
 
Both teams were at a stalemate, with Tristan Cone throwing a gem of a game on the mound. It wasn't until the bottom of the fifth where Delnegro got the ball rolling on a 2-1 count, slapping a double to left. Seth Caballes laid down a bunt to advance Delnegro to third to put him that much closer to the plate. Once Collin Teegarden was walked, Rowdon hit a sacrifice fly to left field, driving in Delnegro to get the Blazers on the board. With two outs, the Blazers were able to get a rally going, advancing on a passed ball to put two runners in scoring position. With the bases loaded, Maberry singled through the left side to drive in two big run, which eventually ended the inning with VSU up 3-0.
 
After the seventh-inning stretch, the Blazers looked to add some insurance to put the game away safely. After Rowdon was able to make his way to third followed by Coker to second, the Choctaws intentionally walked Maberry to force the force out at all bases. Jowenrick Daantji came up to the plate and cranked a double, driving in all of the base runners to put the Blazers up 6-0. The scoring didn't stop there, as Doskow put one out of the park during the next at-bat to drive in two. Caballes singled and reached second on an error where Teegarden hit a double to drive him home, putting up six points in the inning.
 
Mississippi College was able to get a hit in the eighth, but it wasn't enough as they left on one base as Valdosta State got out of the inning. Raiden closed out the game in the final two innings and help send the last three batters back to the dugout, helping give the Blazers the 9-0 win.
 
Coker led the team with three hits during the second game while Daantji led the team in RBI's with three. Cone struck out six and allowed two runs, with the bullpen adding on three more strikeouts while allowing two more runs.