VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State Blazers took a vital game three against the West Alabama Tigers at Billy Grant Field on Saturday afternoon. Drake LaRoche was the star of the day as the righty tossed seven shutout innings of five hit ball while punching out 11 Tigers, which tied his career high. With the win, Valdosta State improved to 12-10 overall and a scorching 9-2 in GSC play while West Alabama dropped to 14-9 overall and 8-4 in the GSC.
 
LaRoche would toss a season high 106 pitches and face 27 batters while only walking one as he was dialed in from the first pitch. Coming out of the bullpen, southpaw Ryan Brown picked up his second save of the year as he went two innings and allowed two hits while fanning two.
 
Cole Steinmetz launched his second home run of the year as he homered in his first at-bat in the bottom of the second to make it 1-0. The bats would go silent as LaRoche would continue to churn through the UWA lineup quickly. VSU would give Brown some insurance in the bottom of the eighth as DJ Banks and Hunter Stowe each picked up an RBI.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Tiger shortstop Eli Burwash opened the game with a hard single to left. Drake LaRoche came back with a nasty breaking ball to catch the red hot Joe Watkins looking for out number one. LaRoche would force a flyout to right for the second out before a stolen base and walk moved a runner into scoring position. On a 1-1 count, LaRoche would get Blake Vineyard to roll over on a pitch to DJ Banks at second who made the play to retire the top of the first without allowing a run for the first time all weekend. Banks singled on the first pitch he saw with one out but was left stranded as the score remained 0-0 heading to the second.
 
The Tigers would rack up two hits in the top of the second as LaRoche would rally and strike out two and force another groundout for out number three as he kept UWA at bay. After two quick outs in the bottom of the second, Cole Steinmetz hit a towering ball into left center that was just out of reach for the center fielder as VSU jumped out to a 1-0 lead through two.
 
In the bottom of the third, Pedro was hit by the pitch with one out followed by a walk to Banks to put two on. UWA then elected to go to their bullpen as they brought in Gates Pee in relief to face the heart of the VSU order. After taking a first pitch strike, Marcos Sevillano lasered a ball to the Tiger shortstop who was in the perfect spot to step on second and force a double play to end the Blazer threat.
 
Drake LaRoche was through four innings of shutout ball as he had allowed three hits and walked one batter while tying a season high strikeouts with six on just 62 pitches with the lead still sitting at 1-0.
 
After the Blazers went down in order in the bottom of the fifth, LaRoche trotted out for the sixth and struck out Tiger slugger Jake Goolsby on three pitches for the first out. The next hitter would after going down 0-2 and battle back to run the count full as he then singled to shortstop before LaRoche rolled a perfect 5-4-3 double play as he was dialed in with the score still sitting at 1-0. VSU went down in order in the bottom of the sixth as UWA right fielder saved an extra base hit at the wall for the final out in inning number six.
 
LaRoche was churning through the Tiger order, as he struck out two more in the top of the seventh as he had tied a career high in strikeouts with 11 while five hits on 106 pitches as his afternoon was through with VSU clinging onto that 1-0 lead.
 
Ryan Brown took the hill in the top of the eighth and retired the first batter as Orlando Pena made a leaping catch at the hot corner to steal a hit away from UWA leadoff man Eli Burwash. After going down 3-0 in the count, Brown would rally back to 3-2 as he forced a tough grounder to Pedro Moreno deep in the hole at short as he slung it across the diamond to a stretching Raynel Ortiz at first for the second out. Jake Goolsby would single to right for a two-out hit as a rally ensued with another knock a few pitches later to place two on with two away. The next pitch was a lazy fly ball to Easton Hood in right who made the catch as Brown worked out of a jam with lead intact. Farid Eljaiek would bloop a ball into center with one out as VSU looked to scrape together some insurance runs. Eljaiek would advance to second on a failed pickoff attempt as Moreno then drew a walk with one down. After running the count full, DJ Banks chopped a double down the left field line as Eljaiek crossed the plate to extend the lead to 2-0 while runners sat at second and third with one away. Marcos Sevillano was intentionally walked to load the bases for cleanup hitter Orlando Pena, who lifted a sacrifice fly to bring another run home. Banks would also cross the plate on a wild pitch that moved Sevillano to third who would also come around to score as Hunter Stowe drove him in on a single to right to make it 5-0 heading to the top of the ninth.
 
Head coach Jan Weisberg stuck with Brown in the top of the ninth as the southpaw making quick work of the Tigers as he forced a flyout for out number one before fanning the last two batters on strikes as the Blazers took the rubber match with a final of 5-0.
 
The Blazers take the road for ten days as they play Georgia College on Tuesday, Mar. 11 at 4 p.m. before taking on No. 13 Delta State for a weekend series starting on Friday, Mar. 14 at 3 p.m. ET for a doubleheader followed by a single game on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.