OXFORD, Ala. – The Valdosta State Blazers extinguished the 13^th ranked nationally and top-seeded Lee Flames on Friday evening by a score of 10-0 in the second round of the GSC Tournament. Valdosta State will advance to the semi-finals to face the no. six seed West Florida tomorrow at 5 p.m. ET.
 
Junior Hunter Booth showed the league why he was named GSC and NCBWA Pitcher of the Week this past week, as he pitched his second consecutive complete-game shutout. Entering this matchup, Lee had not been shutout since Feb. 5, 2022, against North Georgia. Booth finished with a line of seven innings, one walk, and four hits allowed. Booth fanned a career-high seven batters on 101 pitches while retiring the final 13 Lee hitters.
 
At the plate, junior Jovanni Canegitta and junior Hunter Stowe stayed red-hot, as the duo each went 3-4 yet again with three doubles, five runs scored, and five RBI combined. Senior Ryan Romano extended his on-base streak to 35 games, as the second baseman went 2-5 with a run scored and RBI.
 
Starting pitcher Keegan Gagliardo breezed through the first three Valdosta State hitters 1-2-3 to open the game on Saturday night. After forcing a groundout to the first Flames hitter, junior Hunter Booth allowed back-to-back singles followed by a double steal to put runners at second and third with two down. A walk to the number five hitter loaded the bases for Lee's Matthew Batts, who drew the count full before Hunter Booth blew a fastball right by him to keep the score at 0-0 through one.
 
After getting ahead 2-0 in the count, junior Jovanni Canegitta opened the top of the second with a leadoff double to right center field as VSU threatened for runs. A hanging breaking ball to junior Hunter Stowe resulted in a no-doubt shot to left field for his second home runs in as many days as the Blazers jumped out to a 2-0 lead. The Flames opened the bottom of the second with a leadoff single to right for their third hit early on. Booth would then force a pop-out, a flyout, and a lineout to keep the VSU lead at 2-0 through two.
 
In the top of the third, a two-out single from senior Ryan Romano followed by sophomore Dennis Pierce reaching base on a dropped third strike brought up Jovanni Canegitta, who smacked the first ball he saw past the diving third baseman into left for his second double of the day to bring home Romano and Pierce and extend the Valdosta State lead to 4-0 through three innings.
 
 Sophomore DJ Banks led things off with a four-pitch walk followed by a stolen base to put yet another Blazer in scoring position. Senior Jacob Harper drove Banks in with a double into the left field corner as Valdosta State was leading 5-0 over top-seeded Lee. Senior David Crawford drew a walk to put runners at first and second with one out. A fielder's choice advanced Harper to third as runners were at the corners with two outs. On the first pitch he saw, Romano roped a ball up the middle to bring home Harper to make it 6-0 Blazers. Hunter Booth was starting to settle in, as the NCBWA South Region and GSC Pitcher of the Week was through four innings of four-hit ball with two strikeouts on 72 pitches.
 
Lee elected to go to their bullpen as Valdosta State officially closed the door on LU's Keegan Gagliardo. Six earned runs allowed was the most allowed all season for the First Team All-GSC honoree. Everything was working for Jovanni "Jo" Canegitta as he picked up his third hit of the night and sixth of the tournament in the top of the fifth as VSU was threatening yet again after Jo reached second base on a passed ball. Hunter Stowe kept things rolling as he hit the fourth Blazer double to plate Jovanni Canegitta and extend the lead to seven. Jacob Harper chopped a ball up the middle for VSU's fourth two-out RBI as it was now 8-0. An 11-pitch bottom of the seventh from Hunter Booth kept the Flames at bay, as Booth had retired seven in a row through five innings with the Blazers up 8-0.
 
Both teams went down in order in the sixth inning as Booth had retired ten in a row and was through six innings of shutout ball.
 
Hunter Stowe and DJ Banks welcomed a new Lee pitcher with back-to-back singles to open the seventh frame. Sophomore Raynel Ortiz came in to pinch-hit and was immediately plunked to load the bases. A sacrifice fly from Jacob Harper brought home Stowe and advanced Banks to third with one out. A five-pitch walk to Crawford loaded the bases yet again for VSU. A new arm came in to face Pedro Moreno, who walked on five pitches to make it 10-0 Valdosta State heading into the bottom of the seventh. Head coach Greg Guilliams stayed with his top arm to try and close things out, as he went a quick 1-2-3 to give Valdosta State a massive 10-0 run-rule win over the top-seed Lee.