MONTEVALLO, Ala. - The No. 19 Valdosta State baseball team took care of business Friday night against Montevallo, coming away with a 7-4 win to take game one of the weekend series.
 
The Blazers (9-4, 8-4 Gulf South Conference) took the sole Friday matchup against the Falcons off runs in crucial moments and shutdown defense in tough situations. The Blazers forced 14 runners left on base for the Falcons with two separate occasions where the bases were loaded. David Maberry led the team with three RBI off one hit as Ben Rowdon led the team with his three hits. VSU outhit the Falcons with its 12 compared to Montevallo's nine but committed two more errors than the home team. Zach Henderson picked up his second win of the season in 1.2 innings pitched while Jakob Barker recorded his second save of the season. Barker came in for relief and struck out three batters and only allowed one hit
 
The Blazers finish its weekend series with a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon with first pitch set for 2 p.m. E.T. 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 7, MONTEVALLO 4
 
Rowdon got things started in the ball game with a shallow single towards center field and was able to steal second during the next batter. His stolen base put him in position to advance to third off a ground out and score the following batter off a wild pitch to give VSU the advantage. A quick and easy one-two-three inning in the bottom of the first put the pressure on early for the Falcons.
 
Both teams matched its play in the second with one hit a piece before Ryan Delnegro got the bats going with a single in the third. He found third after a passed ball and a ground out and was 90 feet away from crossing the plate, which he did. Nick Lewis sent a deep double towards the gap to drive in Delnegro, followed by a blast out-of-the-park from Maberry to give the Blazers a four-run cushion.
 
The Falcons were able to get things going in the fourth with a two-run single to split the lead in half. The Blazers escaped a tough inning, however, where it got out of a bases loaded jam that caught the Montevallo batter looking for strike three. The Blazers left three stranded in the sixth where Montevallo was able to cut the lead to just one off a single towards left center with just one out to bring the pressure. VSU was able to send the next two batters back to the dugout to get out of the sixth with just one run added.
 
With two outs in the top of the eighth, EJ Doskow came up to the plate and sent a moonshot towards left that escaped the field for a crucial homerun to give the Blazers a two-run lead. The homerun came in clutch as the Falcons were able to get one for itself but still trailed by one going into the final frame of the game.
 
The Blazers felt comfortable after the top of the ninth as it added a run from a bases loaded walk with one out followed by an RBI from Chase Coker to give it a three-run advantage with just three outs left. Montevallo was able to find the base pads off an error and a hit, but the Blazers came up big as it left two stranded to close out the game with a 7-4 win.