VALDOSTA, Ga. – After sweeping the Trevecca Nazarene Trojans this past weekend, the Valdosta State Blazers will put their three game win streak to the test as they travel to Saint Leo, Fla. to play Saint Leo in a single game on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 5 p.m.
Tuesday's game will be free to watch on the Sunshine State Digital Network. To find the stream, please visit the baseball schedule page or
click here.
The Blazers (5-8, 4-1 GSC) swept a GSC team at Billy Grant Field for the first time since March of 2022 as the results from last weekend places VSU in second place in the GSC standings as of Monday. The pitching was dialed in, as the starting pitching trio of
Zac Dodson,
Hunter Booth, and
Drake LaRoche combined for 18.2 IP while allowing 6 runs with only two of them being earned as VSU outscored TNU 20-7 over the weekend. On Saturday, Booth tossed seven shutout innings as the Saint Petersburg, Fla. native allowed four hits while fanning four on 89 pitches while he picked up his first win of the year. Dodson allowed one earned run on Friday as the righty picked up his second consecutive win while tying a season high in strikeouts with four. At the plate, VSU third baseman
Orlando Pena slugged his way to a 3-1 Blazer record this week. The senior went 8-17 at the plate for a .471 batting average while driving in nine on five extra base hits in including two home runs, a triple, and two doubles as Valdosta State fell to Columbus State on Tuesday while sweeping Trevecca Nazarene last week. Peña was able to draw two walks and score a total of five runs while only striking out a total of three times.
Marcos Sevillano has been on fire lately, as the outfielder is batting a red-hot .467 on the year, which is the best in the league as he is 14-30 at the plate while being tied for the team lead in doubles with four.
DJ Banks is leading the team in RBI as he lifted a walk-off sacrifice fly Saturday night for his 13
th RBI of the year. The second baseman is batting .333 on 17 hits and has gotten on base in every single game this year for a streak of 13 while holding a .397 OBP. Since taking over at shortstop,
Andres Natera has been playing solid ball as he is batting .308 on the season while getting on base at a high rate of .500 In 26 at bats while only striking out three times.
The Saint Leo Lions are 4-9 on the 2025 season and are 1-2 in the Sunshine State Conference (SSC) while being 3-4 at home. The Lions most recently dropped two out of three to Rollins just like the Blazers did at the beginning of the month. SLU is also led by a first year coach as Josh Keim as taken over in 2025. Keim's offense is batting .261 on the year and is led in batting average by junior outfielder Thomas DeBrower who is batting .452 with a 1.030 OPS on eight starts and 11 games played. Fellow outfielder Adam Berry is batting a solid .379 with a team leading 1.086 OPS in ten starts while being tied for the team lead in HR with two and a leading nine RBI. Southpaw Kyle Scrape is the leading arm for the Lions as the graduate student is carrying a 3.32 ERA on four starts. In 19.0 innings pitched, he has fanned 13 batters and has held opponents to a .274 batting average while only walking four.
Following this Tuesday night game, Valdosta State will look to stay hot in GSC play as they travel to Huntsville, Ala. to play the Chargers on Friday, Feb. 28 at 4 p.m. ET followed by a doubleheader on Saturday, Mar. 1 at 1 p.m. ET. Before hosting Nova Southeastern on Tuesday, Mar. 4 and Wednesday, Mar. 5 at Billy Grant Field.
