CARROLLTON, Ga. – West Georgia Baseball was able to bounce back in a big way on Saturday, taking both games of the double header to win the series over Valdosta State.
 
Game One
After scoring three runs in Friday's loss to Valdosta State, the West Georgia offense exploded for 14 runs on 14 hits in game one of Saturday's double header, leading to a 14-4 win over the Blazers in eight innings.
 
Jonathan Hickman got the start for the Wolves in game one, pitching six innings while giving up seven hits, two earned runs, and striking out two.
 
Hickman worked around a lead-off walk in the opening inning, sitting down the next three batters in order to send us to the bottom half of the inning. West Georgia threatened in their half, as they had runners on first and second with two outs until a spectacular running catch from Valdosta State's right fielder ended the inning.
 
The Blazers struck first in the ball game, as a solo home run from Luke Ard gave VSU a 1-0 lead in the second inning. UWG would get a lead-off single from Anthony Calabro in their half of the inning but would leave him stranded to take us to the third.
 
Hickman sat Valdosta State down in order in the top of the third to bring the Wolves bats up to the plate. Davis Schwartz opened up the Wolves half of the inning with a lead-off double to put West Georgia in business before two groundouts and a strikeout left Schwartz stranded on third base, keeping the score at 1-0 in favor of the Blazers.
 
Valdosta State would add a run in the top of the fourth courtesy of a sacrifice fly from Anthony Gutierrez to extend their lead to 2-0. The Wolves responded in a big way in their half of the inning, beginning with Logan Fink who ripped a two-run double down the right field line to tie the game at two. Davis Schwartz would follow that up with his second double of the game, scoring Fink to give UWG their first lead of the game at 3-2.
 
After Hickman shutdown the Blazers in the top of the fifth, West Georgia added another run in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a throwing error from Valdosta State that scored Jonathan Logsdon to extend UWG's lead to 4-2 as we went to the sixth inning.
 
VSU was able to get three hits off Hickman in the top of the sixth, but a huge double play ball got the Junior right hander out of the inning unscathed to bring the Wolves' bats back up to the plate. West Georgia started the bottom half of the inning with three straight walks to load the bases with nobody out, bringing Sam Ladner up to the plate with a chance to blow the game wide open. Ladner was hit by the first pitch, bringing home Jackson Webb to extend the lead to 5-2. Logsdon followed that up with a two-run single, scoring Brody Wortham and Schwartz to make it a three-run inning for West Georgia and extended their lead to five.
 
To begin the top of the seventh, coach Jeff Smith made his first call to the bullpen, bringing in Jack Rasmussen to relieve Hickman after six strong innings. 
 
Rasmussen sat the Blazers down 1-2-3 in the seventh to send us to the bottom half of the inning where the Wolves added to their lead. A walk, a base hit, and a hit by pitch loaded up the bases for UWG in the bottom half of the inning before Logsdon cleared the bases with a three-run double, extending the lead to 10-2. West Georgia added one more in the inning thanks to back-to-back wild pitches from Valdosta State which scored Logsdon.
 
VSU struck for two in the top half of the eighth inning courtesy of an RBI-single from Luke Ard and a fielder's choice RBI from E.J. Doskow, cutting the UWG lead to 11-4. That's all the Blazers would get in their half of the inning as back-to-back strikeouts from Rasmussen sent us to the bottom half.
 
Back-to-back walks drawn by Jackson Webb and Davis Schwartz was the start of another big inning for West Georgia in the bottom half of the eighth. An error from Valdosta State followed the walks, scoring Max Wilson, who came in as a pinch runner for Webb, to make it a 12-4 game with Logsdon due up, looking to add to his five RBI day. Logsdon would do just that as the junior ripped a two-run single down the line which scored Schwartz and Wortham, collecting his sixth and seventh RBI of the game and securing a 14-4 win for UWG to even the series. 
 
Game Two
In the rubber match, Austyn Wright got the pill from Jeff Smith. Wright would only make it through two innings, allowing four earned runs, three hits, two walks, and three strikeouts. 
 
In the first, Valdosta State scored two runs on only one hit, as Luke Ard continued his hot streak from the previous game, putting the Blazers up 2-0 after just one inning. 
 
The Blazers tacked on two more in the second inning, on an RBI single and a sac fly. 
 
In that second inning, the Wolves got two runs of their own. After back to back singles by Anthony Calabro and Logan Fink, Jackson Webb drew a walk to load the bases. Davis Schwartz got himself an infield single, and Brody Wortham followed with a sac fly, making the score 4-2 after just two innings of play.
 
Nick Morgan was called to replace Wright in the third inning. He came in and finished with 2.2 innings, allowing one run, two hits, one walk, and one strikeout.
 
In the bottom of the third, Logan Fink sent a double down the left field line, scoring Anthony Calabro. And just one pitch later, Jackson Webb sent the ball into the left center gap scoring Fink, making the score 4-4 after three innings. 
 
The Blazers struck again in the fifth. With a runner on second and two outs, Smith made another move to the pen, this time for Jackson Hodnick. After three pitches, Jacob Harper sent the ball over the center field fence for a 6-4 lead. 
 
Not to be outdone, the Wolves struck for three runs in the bottom of the 6th inning, Davis Schwartz got the inning started with a leadoff double, followed by a walk from Ladner and a walk from Moore. Fuzzy Furr was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded bringing home one, and Anthony Calabro delivered his fourth hit of the game and drove in two more to give the Wolves a 7-6 lead going into the final frame.
 
In the seventh, Hodnick would slam the door on the Blazers, ending the Red Clay Rivalry with the Wolves coming out on top.
 
West Georgia is back in action on Tuesday when they play host to Emmanuel in midweek action. The two squads faced off earlier this season, with the Wolves winning that contest by a score of 11-1. First pitch is set for 5p.m. at Cole Field.