VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State Blazer baseball team continued their strong start to the season, blanking the Florida Tech Panthers 11-0 on a beautiful Friday night at Billy Grant Field. The Blazers tallied 16 total hits, while only giving up five for the whole night.
 
Sophomore Dennis Pierce lit it up once again, finishing the night with two hits, two runs scored, three batters driven in, and walking twice. He has been a great addition early on for head coach Greg Guilliams' squad, tallying seven RBIs in just two games. In addition to Pierce, sophomore infielder Ryan Romano had a solid first start of the season, driving in three runs and logging a double for the evening. Graduate student Leeandro Alfonzo tallied three hits for VSU, as the recent transfer from Texas A&M International has also made a solid impact in the first few games.
 
On the pitching side, three pitchers were used for the night. Redshirt junior Zac Dodson got the start on the bump tonight, and he did his job, fanning five Panthers over four innings of work while allowing four hits and issuing a walk to one batter. Junior JJ Fine came in for relief in the fifth, and only surrendered one hit over four innings while striking out four. Freshman Jacob King shut things down in his debut for the Blazers, as hometown kid retired all three batters he faced to seal the deal for Valdosta State.
 
VSU started things early on a warm 75-degree evening, as junior Hunter Stowe ripped a ball into left center to bring home Pierce to make it 1-0 VSU early on. The Blazers got back on the board in the bottom of the third, as clutch hitting and base running from senior David Crawford had him to third base with one out, where Ryan Romano was able to bring him home with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 Blazers.
 
Florida Tech made it interesting in the top of the fifth, as they had the first two runners rack up hits to have the tying run on second with no outs. Guilliams turned to his bullpen where he called on JJ Finn to come in for relief. Finn did his job, striking out the first batter and then retiring the next two to keep the Panthers at bay heading into the bottom of the fifth. Valdosta State made them pay in the bottom of the fifth, as another single and stolen base for Crawford gave junior Pedro Moreno an opportunity to show off his speed, as he swiftly dropped a bunt down and legged out a single to put runners of the corners with no one out. Romano reached by error which left the bases juiced for the hottest hitter out there in Pierce. The Panthers were smart, walking Pierce but walking in a run to make it 3-0, another run scored via fielder's choice as VSU led 4-0 through five.
 
The pitching continued to be dominant, as JJ Finn started rolling through the Panthers as VSU put up a four spot in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a two-RBI double from Romano and a triple from the ever so dangerous Pierce to make it 8-0 Blazers.
 
The Valdosta State Blazers would roll through the Panthers the rest of the evening, as VSU came out victorious, 11-0.
 
The Blazers and Panthers are back at it again tomorrow, except this time it will be a doubleheader. The first pitch will be at 1 p.m. followed by game two once the first once concludes.