VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State Blazers continue their homestand on Tuesday night, playing host to Thomas University for a 5 p.m. first pitch at Billy Grant Field.
 
Bill Malone will be on call on Talk 92.1 WDDQ FM and a livestream of the game can be found on vstateblazers.com on the baseball schedule page.
 
The Blazers enter this matchup with a 3-1 record, having bested Albany State on the road on Feb. 6 before taking two out of three versus Florida Tech over the weekend for opening weekend in Valdosta. The Night Hawks are a part of the Southern States Conference in the NAIA and enter Titletown with a 9-1 overall record. Thomas University is led by head coach Tom Fleenor. Fleenor is in his fifth season at the helm of the Night Hawks after previously having spent six seasons at Lenoir-Rhyne University.
 
For Valdosta State, they are coming off a great first week, taking three of four and played solid ball. Sophomore Dennis Pierce had an amazing first week as a Blazer, igniting VSU's offense. For the week, Pierce slashed .467/.556/1.000 in four starts at first base. The Quakertown, Pa. native recorded seven hits, two home runs, one triple, eight RBIs, walked three times, and only struck out twice in 15 at-bats. On Tuesday night at Albany State, Pierce hit two home runs and drove in four en route to a 6-1 VSU win over ASU. The recent transfer is on a four-game hitting streak to kick off the 2024 season. On the bump, Junior JJ Finn shut down opposing hitters this week, holding opponents to a .118 average while carrying a 0.00 ERA and a .80 WHIP. In five innings of work across two games, the Ocala, Fla. native fanned five batters, allowed two hits, walked two batters, and picked up a win on Friday night versus Florida Tech.
 
Over the weekend, VSU took the first two versus FIT before dropping the series finale on Saturday evening on game two of the doubleheader. Valdosta State took game one 11-0 on a well-rounded game. The Blazers recorded 16 hits and only allowed five, and the defense held steady, not committing any errors on a beautiful Friday night. JJ Finn picked up the win, as he came in during the bottom of the fifth inning with runners on second and third and no outs and got out of the jam and cruised for another four innings before freshman Jacob King made his debut. The hometown kid retired the Panthers in order to give the Blazers the win in game one.
 
On Saturday, VSU and FIT played two, as Valdosta took game one thanks to a four-run eighth inning to help secure the win despite committing five errors as a team, winning 8-4. In game two, the Blazers could never string hits together, scoring only one run on eight hits. On the other side, the Panthers scored five runs on 10 hits and jumped on junior Keaton Fuller early, scoring two in the top of the first and going on to win, 5-1.