VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 19 Valdosta State baseball team travels to Carrollton, Ga., for its weekend series to face Gulf South Conference foe West Georgia in the Red Clay Rivalry matchup. The series begins with a single game on Friday, April 8, at 5 p.m., and will conclude with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 9, starting at 1 p.m.
 
Fans can access links to live stats and streaming of the games at vstateblazers.com on the baseball schedule page. Check back with the site for complete recaps and stats of each game throughout the season.
 
The Blazers are 21-8 overall and 12-5 in GSC play and head to West Georgia after dropping their home weekend series against Gulf South Conference foe Christian Brothers. Valdosta State fell to the Bucs 5-4 in its first game on Saturday, April 2, and split its doubleheader on Sunday, April 3, as they dropped game one in 13-12 in 10 innings and won game two, 2-0. Valdosta State was scheduled to face Georgia College earlier this week in a midweek matchup, but the game was cancelled due to weather.
 
Valdosta State looks to continue its six game win streak against the UWG after the last matchup against the Wolves on April 19, 2021, when the Blazers came out on top 4-3. Since 2011, the Blazers have 18 wins and 14 losses against the Wolves. VSU is currently 4-10 in Carrollton against UWG.
 
The Wolves enter with a 16-14 record overall and a 7-10 mark in the GSC. Offensively, Brody Wortham is leading the Wolves with a .412 batting average with 54 hits, 37 runs scored, 27 RBI, five doubles, two triple eight home runs, 11 free passes, and one sacrifice hit.
 
On the mound, the Wolves have a team ERA of 5.82 with 227 strikeouts and have given up 287 hits, 192 runs, and 130 batters walked.
 
Heading into the week, nationally speaking, the Blazers were 24th in ERA at a 3.86 clip for second in the GSC.  The Blazers are tied for sixth nationally in shutouts with five for tops in the league, while they are tops in the league in strikeouts per nine innings at 2.54.
 
Individually, Doskow is eighth nationally in batting average at a .448 clip to lead the league, while he is tied for 23rd nationally and tops in the league in on base percentage at a .534 clip.  He is 32nd nationally and is second in the GSC in slugging percentage at a .781 clip.  Doskow is fifth in the GSC in doubles with 11 and tenth in the league in home runs with seven, while he is fourth in the league in RBI with 38. 
 
The Valdosta State baseball team has the honor of highlighting junior pitcher Kevin Tomas as this week's Gulf South Conference pitcher of the week. On the season, Tomas has thrown 34.2 innings and tallied 19 strikeouts while giving up 29 hits, nine runs, eight free passes, and five hits-basemen. Currently, Tomas has a 2.34 ERA and has recorded two wins including the win over Christian Brothers Sunday, and against Montevallo on March 5, 2022.
 
The Blazers are third this week in the latest NCBWA South Region Top Ten as Tampa leads the poll, followed by Rollins at second. Following Valdosta State, in third, is Nova Southeastern at fourth and Montevallo to round out the top five. Florida Southern is sixth, followed by Savannah State, Nova Southeastern, Florida Tech, and Saint Leo and West Florida tied for tenth. 
 
For Week Eight in the NCBWA NCAA DII Top 25, the Blazers sit at No. 21 with 100 points. Tampa tops the list with 470 points followed by Wingate with 457. Point Loma, Central Missouri, and Columbus State round out the top five. Besides Tampa and VSU, Rollins is the only other team from the South Region to make the poll at No. 10 with 273 points.
 
In the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Top 25, this marks the fifth-straight week the Blazers have been in the poll.  Tampa leads the poll, followed by Wingate, Columbus State, Point Loma Nazarene, and Central Missouri to round out the top five. North Greenville is sixth, followed by Colorado Mesa, Angelo St., Augustana and Chico St., rounds out the top ten.  VSU sits at No. 21 with 95 points for the highest ranked team from the GSC and second in the region behind Tampa.  Following the Blazers, Delta State is No. 25 and Montevallo is No. 26.
 
Following the West Georgia series, VSU returns to Billy Grant Field at Tommy Thomas Park for a midweek matchup against Georgia College on Tuesday, April 12, at 5 p.m.
 
For all information on Blazer baseball visit vstateblazers.com or follow Valdosta State Athletics on social media.