Baseball Splits With West Georgia

VSU falls 6-5, Wins 17-3

VALDOSTA, Ga. - West Georgia claimed a 6-5 come-from-behind victory in the first game while Valdosta State rolled to a 17-3 win in the second game of a Gulf South Conference doubleheader at Billy Grant Field Saturday afternoon.

West Georgia (11-21, 2-3) scored a pair of runs in the top of the second to open the scoring in the game one. With two outs in the frame, Ben Lillis singled and moved to second as Eric Melton drew a walk. A B.J. Smith ground ball brought home Lillis while Chris King drove home Melton with a single to left.

Valdosta State (26-14, 3-4) gained the lead in the fifth as it scored three runs. Jon Koengisfeld doubled to open the frame and scored as Brandon Decker followed with a single. A Matt Costello fielder's choice erased Decker, but Blaine Wilson followed with his 11th home run of the season, a shot over the wall in right-center that gave VSU a 3-2 lead.

The Wolves got a Cody Jackson home run in the top of the sixth to even the game at 3-3, but the Blazers responded with two more runs in the bottom of the frame to regain the lead. Robby Kuzdale led off with his sixth home run of the season for the first run while Koenigsfeld walked and eventually scored on a Wilson hit through the left-side of the infield, posting Valdosta State to a 5-3 advantage.

Smith singled with one out in the seventh and scored on a King double to cut the UWG deficit to 5-4 before getting two more in the eighth to regain the lead. With one out in the frame, Seth Reber walked and moved to second as Ryan Sever singled through the left-side of the infield. Lillis followed with a single up the middle to plate Reber. Pinch-hitter Andrew Parrish proceeded to single to right to score Sever to give West Georgia a 6-5 advantage.

Ross Gusky (4-2) took the loss for the Blazers as he allowed four runs in four innings while Alex Wilson gave up just one hit over the final three and two-thirds innings to improve to 5-2 for UWG.

VSU scored first in the second game as it plated four runs in the bottom of the first. Logan Pierce drew a walk to open the frame and moved to second on a Koenigsfeld ground out. Decker followed with a bloop single to left that advanced Pierce to third, allowing him to score on a Costello single. A passed ball moved both base runners up, allowing them to score when Clayton Cain singled to left. The leftfielder bobbled the ball to allow Cain to move to second on the play while Austin Smith doubled to right to bring him home and give Valdosta State a 4-0 lead.

Wilson hit his 12th home run of the year in the third, a towering shot off the house in left-center field that plated Costello, to add two more runs to the VSU lead. Cain proceeded to draw a walk and scored when Smith doubled to right-center to give the Blazers a 7-0 lead.

The Blazers sent nine men to the plate in the fourth and scored four more runs. Wilson drove in two of the runs with a bases loaded single while Shawn Keill added another with a sacrifice fly. Smith drove home the final run with a base hit to right that gave VSU an 11-0 lead.

Valdosta State got a two-run from Costello in the fifth and a scored four more in the sixth. The Wolves closed out the scoring with two runs in the seventh on a Mike Arnold pinch-hit double.

Brandon Graves gave up six hits and three runs, only one of which was earned, while striking out seven batters in six-plus innings to improve to 6-1. Jimmy Lamourt allowed 12 hits and 11 runs in four innings to fall to 0-3.

Costello finished with four hits, four runs scored and four RBI on the day to lead VSU offensively. Wilson tallied five hits and seven RBI while Koenigsfeld scored five runs.

The two teams conclude the three game series with a single game on Sunday. The contest, originally scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch, has been moved to 12:15 p.m. due to forecasted rain in the Valdosta area.

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