VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State baseball team will finish the regular season on the road this week, as they travel to Daytona Beach, Fla. on Tuesday night to face Embry-Riddle at 5 p.m. before wrapping up the 2024 regular season on the road at rival West Georgia starting on Friday, April 26 at 5 p.m. followed by a doubleheader on Saturday, April 27 at 1 p.m.
 
The Blazers clinched their spot in Gulf South Conference tournament on Saturday evening, as they took two out of three versus the Christian Brothers Buccaneers to win their eighth-straight series dating back to March 3. As it stands today, Valdosta State currently sits in the third spot in the GSC, as they are currently ahead of West Florida and Delta State because VSU has a higher winning percentage than UWF and own the tiebreaker over DSU. Valdosta State is three games back of Auburn Montgomery, as the Blazers would have to win the final four games and the Warhawks would have to lose out for VSU to jump them. The Gulf South Conference Tournament will take place in Oxford, Ala. on May 3 and will run through May 7.
 
Valdosta State enters this week with a record of 24-16 (16-11 GSC) as they hit the road to close out the regular season. On the hill, redshirt junior Zac Dodson shut down the opposition for a second straight week. On Friday night versus Christian Brothers, the Boca Raton, Fla. native was perfect through 4.2 innings as he was breezing through the CBU lineup. "Doddy" would go on pitch seven shutout innings while striking out a season-high eight batters on 90 pitches. While picking up his third win of the season, Dodson allowed four hits and only allowed one free pass for zero earned runs. In his last two starts, Doddy has pitched 14 innings and has allowed eight hits and one earned run while striking out 12 batters. At the plate, Valdosta State leads the league in batting average at a .329 clip. Individually, sophomore Dennis Pierce has been as consistent as it gets, as he has started in all 40 games and is tied for the team lead in batting average with a .397. Pierce is dominating the GSC, as he is tied for third in batting average and RBIs while ranked second in OBP, OPS, and slugging percentage.
 
Valdosta State will begin their road trip with a quick drive down to the Sunshine State to square off with Embry-Riddle on Tuesday, April 23 at 5 p.m. The Eagles are 23-17 (10-11 SSC) on the season and defeated the Blazers by a score of 5-4 on March 6 in Valdosta. ERU is led by head coach Randy Stegall, who is in his 16^th season at the helm of the Eagles. On offense, Embry-Riddle is led by shortstop Camden Traficante, who leads the team in doubles (14), home runs (4), RBIs (39), and walks (33) in 40 starts. On the mound, ERU is anchored by junior Max Meyer, who is 6-2 with a 2.89 ERA in 17 appearances. The Georgetown, Ind. native has logged three saves and has held opponents to a .231 batting average.
 
On Friday, the Blazers will travel to Carrollton, Ga. to face the West Georgia Wolves for one last regular season matchup starting on Friday, April 26 at 5 p.m. followed by a doubleheader on Saturday, April 27 at 1 p.m. The Wolves are led by head coach Jeff Smith, who is in his fifth season at the helm of UWG. This season, the Wolves are 22-22 (13-14 GSC) overall and are 10-12 at home this season. At the plate, West Georgia is led by slugger Luke Hatcher, who has hit a team-leading nine homers and driven in 37 runners with a .323 batting average in 44 starts. On the mound, UWG likes to throw junior Seth Dudley on Fridays, as he has started in 13 games and has an ERA of 4.33.
 
Following the games this week, VSU will focus on the Gulf South Conference Tournament, which will begin on May 3 and will run through May 7. The tournament will be held at Choccolocoo Park in Oxford, Ala.