VALDOSTA, Ga. - The Valdosta State Blazers comeback fell just short Friday night, as the West Florida Argonauts came out on top 11-8.
 
The Blazers (14-7, 12-6 Gulf South Conference) were led by Nick Lewis who hit a perfect five-for-five from the dish, tacking on an RBI. Jordan Holt led the team with three RBI off a bases clearing triple in the bottom of the ninth to cut the game to just a trio of runs. In total, VSU recorded 12 hits off 41 at-bats as UWF edge the Blazers in the hit column with 17. Both teams left handfuls of runners stranded, as VSU saw 10 of its runners left on base with West Florida close behind with nine. VSU's pitching core threw eight strikeouts during the loss while facing 41 batters. It was a homerun derby replica as six homeruns, five from UWF and one from VSU, were seen during Friday nights matchup.
 
The Blazers return to the diamond tomorrow at 1 p.m. to wrap up its weekend series against West Florida with a doubleheader. Fans can access links to live stats, audio/video streaming and ticket information for the games at vstateblazers.com on the baseball schedule page.
 
WEST FLORIDA 11, VALDOSTA STATE 8
 
Ben Rowdon led things off with a single up the middle and found second shortly after off his team-leading 10^th stolen base. A deep single to right from Lewis, the following batter, pushed Rowdon across home to give the Blazers an early lead. The Blazer lead quickly turned to a deficit, however, as three separate Argonauts hit one out-of-the-park in the top of the second to put itself ahead 3-1.
 
VSU matched one homerun as Collin Teegarden went deep towards right center to help cut the Blazers deficit to just one after two innings. A one-two-three inning saw the Blazers offense come up once again, with leadoff hitter Lewis getting things started with his second hit of the day. A double to the fence by David Maberry sent Lewis flying from first all the way to home to tie the ballgame up at three.
 
The Argonauts found its groove once again as Dylan Menhennett hit his second blast of the day to break the tie and give West Florida a 4-3 lead. Elijah Gill was able to get the Blazers out of the inning, striking out his fifth batter of the day to leave runners stranded on the corners. West Florida added another run in the fifth to give it a two-run cushion, but Lewis smacked a double to put himself in position to get batted in from Jakob Sessa in the fifth.
 
West Florida took control over the next two innings where it scored a pair of runs in the sixth and seventh to put the Blazers down five with three innings to go. VSU showed a glimpse of hope in the bottom of the seventh, with the bases jacked and two outs, but the Argonauts were able to leave all three stranded off a forced ground out.
 
Another Argonaut homerun along with an RBI single pushed the game to 11-4 as the Blazers looked to make a big comeback with three outs to spare. Lewis hit one towards the fences for a leadoff double, followed by an EJ Doskow walk to bring up Maberry. A deep single brought Lewis home to cut the deficit to six with no outs on the board. Jowenrick Daantji jacked the bases before the Argonauts could record its first out, leaving the Blazers with two outs to work with. Holt hit a bases clearing triple perfectly down the right filed line to put the pressure on and cut its lead to just three. A lineout forced the Blazers to make the comeback with one out in hand, but the Argonauts took control to force the last out and take game one of the series 11-8.