CARROLLTON, Ga. – Behind twelve runs and 14 hits, the Valdosta State baseball team opened the final series of the regular season with a 12-9 victory at West Georgia Friday evening.  Blazer sophomore infielder DJ Banks paced the team to a career-best 4-for-5 performance with one run scored, leading four players with multi-hit performances. 
 
Banks, a native of Powder Springs, Ga., tallied his sixth multi-hit game of the season as his previous best was three hits versus Montevallo and Saint Leo.  Junior Pedro Moreno went 2-for-4 from the dish with two runs scored, a double and two RBI, while senior Ryan Romano was 3-for-4 with three RBI, a home run and drove in three.  Junior Hunter Stowe finished 2-for-4 with a run scored, a home run and a team-high four RBI.
 
Senior hurler Zac Dodson went four innings in his 11^th start of the season, allowing seven hits, five runs – four earned, walked one and fanned two.  Junior Ryan Brown earned the win (3-3) in three innings of work, allowing five hits, four earned runs, walked two and fanned four.  Junior Nick Ferrara picked up his team-leading eighth save of the season, going 1.2 innings, surrendering one hit and fanned two.  UWG starter Will Dean (4-4) took the loss, going three innings, allowing seven hits, seven earned runs, walked four and fanned four.
 
With the win, the Blazers improved to 25-17 on the year and 17-11 in Gulf South Conference play, while UWG fell to 22-24 overall and 13-15 in league play.  VSU needs one win in Saturday's doubleheader to clinch their seventh-straight GSC series victory.  The win Friday evening also helped keep the Blazers in contention for a top-four seed in the upcoming GSC Baseball Championship next week at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Ala. 
 
The Blazers wasted little time getting things going offensively Friday evening as Moreno began the game with a double to right, followed by a Romano single and a walk to sophomore Dennis Pierce loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the first.  A wild pitch plated Moreno for a 1-0 lead and Stowe later singled to right plating Romano for a 2-0 lead.
 
UWG cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the first with an RBI ground out.  The scoring carried over to the second inning as Romano blasted his second home run of the season – a three-run shot for a 5-1 lead.  The Blazers then extended the lead to 7-1 on a two-run blast from Moreno in the top of the third for his second round-tripper of the season. 
 
The Wolves pulled within 7-3 in the bottom of the third on an RBI single and a fielder's choice error and added two more in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run home run from Sam Ladner for a 7-5 score.   Ladner finished the game leading the way for the Wolves, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored, two home runs and four RBI.
 
VSU plated four runs in the top of the sixth, courtesy of a walk to Romano to begin the frame and a single from Pierce, followed by an RBI double from junior Jovanni Canegitta and the three-run blast from Stowe for his sixth dinger of the season and an 11-5 lead.
 
The Wolves scratched a run across in the bottom of the seventh, before VSU added a run in the eighth from junior Cole Steinmetz for a 12-6 advantage.  UWG wouldn't go away quietly, however, as it blasted back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the eighth to pull within 12-9 on the second round-tripper from Ladner and one from Patrick McCullough.  Ferrara retired the Wolves in order in the ninth for the victory.
 
Saturday's doubleheader is set for a 1 p.m. first pitch and fans can access links to live stats and streaming at vstateblazers.com on the baseball schedule page.