VALDOSTA, Ga. - The Valdosta State Blazers took Tuesday night's match against Georgia Southwestern 3-2 in a game that came down to the final inning.
 
The Blazers (14-6, 12-5 Gulf South Conference) shined through its defense as it held the Hurricanes to two runs off of its 11 hits and forced 10 runners stranded on base. Crucial pitching helped the Blazers as well where Jakob Barker came in for the save and caught the last batter of the game looking. David Maberry led the Blazers with two hits with one RBI which came at a crucial moment. Maberry sent one passed the fence to give the Blazers its last run which was the difference maker at the conclusion. As a team, the Blazers recorded five hits to go towards its three runs off 24 at-bats, only leaving two runners stranded.
 
The Blazers return to the diamond this weekend to face off against West Florida, with a single game set for Friday, Mar. 26 at 5 p.m., followed by a doubleheader the next day with first pitch set for 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.
 
VALDOSTA STATE 3, GEORGIA SOUTHWESTERN 2
 
It was a pitching duel during the first three innings as the Blazers didn't record a hit until the third inning. The Blazers let up a trio of hits through the first four innings but were able to get out of each inning to leave five Hurricane runners stranded in total.
 
Nick Lewis got things started in the fourth with a leadoff single towards centerfield. Maberry followed with a hit of his own, followed by a full count walk by Logan Stephens. EJ Doskow played the plate well on the next at-bat, watching four straight balls to bring in Lewis to break the score. Now with the lead, Chase Coker sacrificed a high fly ball towards left field which brought Maberry in to extend its lead after four.
 
Back-to-back doubles in the top of the fifth for GSW cut the Blazer lead in half to just one, but VSU got out of the inning with one runner stranded. The Blazers answered right away as Maberry jacked one out of the park on the second pitch he saw to quickly put the Blazers back up by two after the sixth.
 
Pitching and defense from the Blazers came up strong once again towards the end of the ballgame as VSU went three up and three down in the seventh. In the eighth, the Hurricanes were able to draw a walk followed by a single to have two runners on base with just one out. A flyout followed by a full count strikeout left both of those runners on base to force the Hurricanes to try and make a comeback with just three more outs to spare.
 
The Hurricanes didn't go out without a fight and put the pressure on the Blazers during its final push. The Hurricanes leadoff hitter singled towards center, followed by another single to put runners on first and second with no one out. A sacrifice bunt pushed the runners up a bag to help aid an RBI single to make it at a one run game with one out. Now with the tying runner 90 feet away, the Blazers had to lock down to try and force two more outs. A short flyout to left field forced the runner at third to refrain from tying up, giving the Hurricanes one final chance to tie things up. A tale of the game, Barker was able to freeze the final batter on a called strike three to get out of the inning and secure the win.