VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State baseball team (1-3) opens its 2026 home slate this week, welcoming Florida Tech (3-0) to Billy Grant Field for a three-game Gulf South Conference series. The home opener is set for 6 p.m. Thursday, followed by a 4 p.m. first pitch Friday and a 1 p.m. finale Saturday.
VSU enters the weekend coming off a season-opening road swing through South Florida. The team showed encouraging signs at the plate but struggled to find consistency on the mound, allowing double-digit runs in three of four games. Junior Charlie Banks has been a steady presence early in the lineup in his first season with the Blazers, recording a hit in all four games and slashing .474/.500/.737 with a home run, five RBI, and a stolen base. Two more newcomers in Senior Brent Howard (.308/.500/.462) and junior Matt Keller (.333/.500/.333) have also provided quality early production.
On the mound, the Blazers received solid opening-weekend starts from junior Garrett Moody, who posted a 1.00 WHIP, held opponents to a .211 average, and struck out 10, as well as senior Drake LaRoche, who worked into the middle innings with a 5.40 ERA. Redshirt freshman Ty Macera and junior Ryan Strachan started the third and fourth games of the season.
Florida Tech arrives in Valdosta after a sweep of Spring Hill College in Melbourne, Fla., behind a strong opening series from both its pitching staff and lineup. Jacob Pino delivered a big-time start for the Panthers, going seven scoreless innings while allowing just three hits and striking out seven. AJ Wydra and Hunter Stolov followed with effective starts that helped Florida Tech secure the sweep.
Offensively, the Panthers' bats were equally impressive. Anthony Firmiano put together a huge opening weekend, hitting .600/.600/1.000 with two doubles, two triples, and four RBI. Gabe Roque followed close behind at .556/.714/1.111, adding a home run and five RBI, while Adrian Dominguez and William Rolling also finished the weekend with OPS marks north of 1.000.
The Blazers hold a 12-10-1 advantage in the all-time series and took two of three from Florida Tech last season. The tie between the programs came in 2004 in Melbourne.
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 roll into their 2026 campaign.
