VALDOSTA, Ga. — The Valdosta State baseball team (2-5) will open Gulf South Conference play this weekend when it welcomes Union (4-3) to Billy Grant Field for a three-game series. The series begins Friday at 5 pm at Billy Grant Field. Saturday will be a doubleheader beginning at 1 pm, with the second game set to begin approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.
Valdosta State lost last weekends opening series to Florida Tech, but won the series finale on a walk-off hit from senior Jackson Webster last Saturday.
Three Blazers, juniors Charlie Banks, Isaiah Pou, and Luke Flading, have each posted OPS marks above .900 through the opening seven games. Banks has slashed .355/.412/.516 with a home run, while Pou has homered twice slugging at a team-high .577 slugging percentage. Junior Matt Keller and Pou have stolen two bags each for the Blazers. Senior Will Beckham and Banks have also stolen bases. Senior Brent Howard has provided strong plate discipline, drawing a team-high seven walks and hitting a home run last Friday vs Florida Tech.
On the mound, Valdosta State has been led by two key starters in senior Drake LaRoche and junior Garrett Moody. LaRoche has posted a 4.50 ERA across 10 innings of work, while Moody leads the team with 16 strikeouts over 9.2 innings pitched. Out of the bullpen, Junior Cam Habada has thrown eight strikeouts over six scoreless innings of relief work. Senior Vinny Del Negro and Sophomore Jacob Page have also shutout batters through 3.0 and 3.2 innings of relief work respectively so far this season.
Union enters the weekend off a win over Lane College on Tuesday in which they scored 18 runs. The Bulldogs have started the year strongly on offense with six batters currently holding an OPS of 1.000 or greater. Union's Elijah Ramsey leads the Gulf South Conference with 14 RBI to this point in the season. The Bulldogs have seen solid starting pitching so far getting two wins from Nathan Myers and a 2.79 ERA from Chris Troyer in 9.2 innings pitched.
Valdosta State holds a 19-11 advantage in the all-time series against Union. The programs split a two-game series last season in Jackson, Tenn.
Find live stats, written coverage, streaming links, and more on vstateblazers.com and follow @VState_Blazers as well as @VState_Baseball to stay up to date with the team as they begin GSC play.
