VALDOSTA, Ga. – Valdosta State had Georgia Southwestern down to their final strike on Tuesday night, as the Canes were able to scrape a run in the top of the ninth and proceed to score two in the tenth to escape with a 9-7 victory over the Blazers on Tuesday night in Titletown. Valdosta State dropped to 22-15 (14-10 GSC) while Georgia Southwestern improved to 30-13 (13-8 PBC) and completed the season sweep of the Blazers.
 
Valdosta State has one more home series this weekend, as they take on the Christian Brothers Buccaneers on Friday, April 19 at 5 p.m. before a doubleheader to follow on Saturday, April 20 starting at 1 p.m. with senior day to commence before the game at 12:45 p.m.
 
Valdosta State trailed by as many as three runs, as they fought back to tie it and eventually take the lead. The Blazers left 14 runners on base for the evening and committed a season-high five errors, including two in the top of the ninth to seal their fate versus the Canes.
 
Back-to-back doubles from the Canes opened things up as they jumped out to a 1-0 lead early. With two down and a full count, George Davis hit a two-run homer to left to grow the lead to 3-0 heading to the bottom of the first. In the bottom half, two straight hard-hit balls found leather before sophomore Dennis Pierce got hit by the pitch and junior Jovanni Canegitta drew a walk to put two on with two out for Hunter Stowe, who drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases. On the first pitch he saw, senior Jacob Harper was plunked to bring home a run and make it 3-1 through one.
 
A first pitch single had GSW threatening, and head coach Greg Guilliams went to his bullpen, bringing in junior Ryan Brown in relief for sophomore Anthony Martens. The first batter Brown faced served a ball into right for a base hit and RBI to make it 4-1 Canes. An infield single and error had the bases loaded with no one out. Brown immediately rolled a 4-6-3 double play as a run scored as Georgia Southwestern led 5-1 through an inning and a half. A leadoff walk followed by a slicing double into the right field corner from sophomore DJ Banks brought a run home to make it 5-2 with no one out. GSW went to their bullpen early also, as they went to Grant Adams to try and stop the VSU rally. A groundout from sophomore Pedro Moreno plated Banks to make it 5-3 through two.
 
Georgia Southwestern tacked on another run in the top of the fourth with a solo shot to make the lead 6-3. In the bottom of the fourth, graduate student Owen Lawn led things off with a double off the batter's eye in center and was brought home by a Pedro Moreno sacrifice fly to steal that run back as Valdosta State trailed 6-4 through four innings of play.
 
In the top of the fifth, a one out double followed by a hit by pitch had runners on first and second before a third Blazer error moved the runner to third. A shallow flyout to left kept the runners at bay as there were runners on the corners with two out. Junior Jude Ard was able to force yet another shallow flyout to get out of the jam with no blood drawn as VSU still trailed 6-4 through five.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, VSU got within striking distance on an error which allowed Lawn to reach followed by a bunt single by senior David Crawford to bring the go ahead run to the plate. On an 0-2 count, third baseman DJ Banks shot a ball through the right side to bring Lawn around third to score and put the tying run at second base, now only down one run. On a 3-0 count, senior Ryan Romano got the green light and tied the game up on a hard hit double into right center as it was now 6-6 through six.
 
 A hard-hit single followed by a lineout to right in the top of the seventh forced Greg Guilliams to go to his bullpen, as he elected to bring in freshman Jacob King in a tie game with one on and one out. After walking the first batter and going down 2-0 to the next one, Guilliams went to the 'pen again, this time bringing in junior Garrett Sagro with runners at first and second with one down. After walking the batter and loading the bases, Sagro forced a pop out to retire the second batter of the inning. On a 3-2 count, the southpaw forced a grounder to Lawn at first, who stepped on the bag to get VSU out of the jam yet again. A single up the middle followed by a hit batter had the Blazers in the driver's seat to open the home half of the seventh. Lawn drew a walk to load the bases up for sophomore Marcos Sevillano, who came in for David Crawford earlier in the game. On a 0-1 count, Sevillano hit a shirt chopper to the pitcher to bring home a run as VSU took their first lead of the game, now up 7-6 through seven innings of ball.
 
Sagro continued to pitch in the top of the eighth, as he walked the first batter on four pitches before a wild pitch advanced him to second with no one out. Sagro came back with a flyout to retire the first batter of the inning. A strikeout and a stolen base had two down and the tying run 90 feet away with two down. On a 3-1 count, Sagro got the batter reaching for a dribbler to third, where DJ Banks made a strong throw to Pierce at first to strand the tying run at third with Valdosta State still leading 7-6 heading into the bottom of the eighth.
 
After going in order in the bottom of the eighth, Guilliams brought in closer Nick Ferrara to try and shut the door on the Canes in the top of the ninth.
 
Ferrara went right to work, as he sat down the first batter on three pitches to open the final frame. An error on a tough play put the tying on first with one down. Another Blazer error brought the tying run 90 feet away again on a ball past the first baseman's glove. The very next pitch, a suicide squeeze was snuffed out by Nick Ferrara as he flipped the ball to Harper at the plate to nab the tying run for the second out. With runners at first and second and two down and a 2-2 count, the Canes tied it up at seven with a liner to right field as the game was knotted up 7-7 heading to the bottom of the ninth. In the bottom half, the first two Blazers struck out before junior Farid Eljaiek shot a ball just past the first baseman to try and ignite a two-out rally. Eljaiek stole second to give Marcos Sevillano a chance to walk it off. After battling to a full count, Sevillano walked to give DJ Banks a shot to send the fans home happy. Banks hit a laser to the shortstop who handled it to send the game to extras.
 
Guilliams went to sophomore Raynel Ortiz in the top of the tenth with the game all even at seven. With the extra inning rule in effect, Kalvin Alexander was at second to start the inning for GSW. A single to right gave Georgia Southwestern the lead and they continued to tack on, as another hit brought another run home as the Canes were now up 9-7 heading to the bottom of the tenth.
 
In the bottom of the tenth, DJ Banks was placed a second to start the inning. Two quick strikeouts had VSU on their last leg, as Dennis Pierce was able to draw a walk to bring the winning run to the plate in Jovanni Canegitta. On a 3-2 count with two outs, Canegitta drew a walk to juice the bases for designated hitter Hunter Stowe, who couldn't catch up to the heat on 0-2 as VSU fell to GSW in 10 innings, 9-7.