VALDOSTA, Ga. – Coming off a 2-1 Gulf South Conference-opening weekend, the Valdosta State baseball team heads on the road for a midweek matchup at Saint Leo on Tuesday evening with first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m.
 
Fans can access links to live stats and streaming of the game at vstateblazers.com on the baseball schedule page.  This begins a stretch of eight-straight games away from home for the Blazers as they won't be back at Billy Grant Field at Tommy Thomas Park until Mar. 7 in a midweek game against Georgia College.  Following Tuesday's game at Saint Leo, VSU heads to Cleveland, Miss., for a three-game series with Delta State, Feb. 24-25. The Blazers will close the first month of the season at Georgia Southwestern on Feb. 28, before heading to Rome, Ga., for a Mar. 3-4 series at Shorter. 
 
VSU enters the week with a 7-3 record overall and a 2-1 mark in Gulf South Conference play, after opening league action winning two of three over the weekend versus Mississippi College.  The Blazers swept a doubleheader from the Choctaws on Saturday, winning the opener 11-4 and the nightcap 7-3.  The Blazers were unable to pull off the sweep as MC won Sunday's contest 12-5.
 
The Blazers battled from behind in a midweek home game against Albany State last Wednesday as the Golden Rams scored four runs in the first inning, before VSU rallied for a 7-5 victory.  For the week, VSU hit .297 with 35 hits, 30 runs scored, eight doubles and 26 RBI.  The team slugged .364 and reached base at a .422 clip with 15 walks and 12 hit batsmen.  Graduate student JP Gates went 9 of 15 from the from the plate with four runs scored, two doubles and six RBI, while he slugged .733 and reached base at a .647 clip. 
 
On the bump, freshman Anthony Martens improved to 3-0 on the year as he picked up two wins in relief appearances going 3.1 innings, allowing five hits, four runs – two earned and walked two.  Senior Kevin Tomas had a strong start against Mississippi College, going six innings, allowing eight hits, three runs – two earned, walked none and fanned five in the 7-3 victory Saturday.  As a staff, VSU held the opposition to a .233 average as the opponents tallied 31 hits with 24 runs scored, four doubles, six home runs and 19 RBI. 
 
Saint Leo enters with a 4-4 record overall after a 10-2 loss to No. 20 Quincy (Ill.) on Feb. 14.  The Lions were picked third in the Sunshine State Preseason Poll, while Buck Anderson and Bobby Sparling were named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) All-South Region Preseason Team.  The duo earned first team all-region honors a season ago as Sparling was named South Region Player of the Year and earned second team All-America honors.  He led the SSC with 21 home runs, while finishing second in RBI with 63.   Anderson hit .324 a season ago and swiped 42 bags, while he finished with 46 runs scored, 67 hits, 91 total bases, 21 walks, ten doubles and four home runs.
 
Head coach Rick O'Dette led the team to a 36-17 record in 2022 and a 20-10 mark in league play.  Saint Leo hosted one half of the South Regional last May where it finished 1-2.  O'Dette is in his sixth season a SLU where he is 119-89, while he is in his 23^rd year of coaching and is 613-496-4. 
 
VSU leads the all-time series 14-7 since Feb. 13, 2007.  The Blazers have won four-straight in the series and five of six.  Four of the last six games have been decided by one run.  VSU won 10-6 on Apr. 19, 2022, at Saint Leo as senior Bryson Gandy began the game with a solo home run in the first at bat of the game.  SLU would jump out to a 4-1 lead, but VSU roared back with five runs in the fifth and two in the sixth for an 8-6 lead.  The Blazers added two more in the night for the 10-6 victory.   VSU has won seven of 12 as the road team in the series.
 
This season, Gates leads the team with a .385 average on 15 of 39 from the plate with seven runs scored for second on the team.  He has four doubles with 12 RBI and has accounted for 19 total bases.  Gates is slugging .487 and reaching base at a .429 clip.  He also has a 1-0 record on the mound in three appearances for 4.2 innings.  He has allowed four hits, four earned runs, walked nine and fanned five. Junior Jacob Harper is second on the team in average at a .375 clip on 9 of 24 from the plate. He has scored three runs with three doubles and nine RBI.  Junior David Crawford leads the team with 11 runs scored, while he has one of two triples on the year.  
 
On the mound, Martens is 3-0 with a 2.84 ERA in four appearances and 6.1 innings.  Tomas is 2-0 in a team-high 18.2 innings and a 1.93 ERA.  Tomas has allowed 17 hits, six runs – four earned, walked one and fanned 13.  The staff has a 4.55 ERA in 85 innings of work, while it has allowed 88 hits, 65 runs – 52 earned, walked 32 and fanned 53 as team as the opponents are hitting .259 against the Blazers.  
 
The Blazers were picked fourth in the GSC Preseason Coaches Poll.  The Blazers were fourth in the latest NCBWA South Region Top Ten last week, while they were the first team out of the NCBWA National Top 25 a week ago (26^th).