CARROLLTON, Ga. - The University of West Baseball team dropped Game One of their three-game series to the Valdosta State Blazers on Friday night, 12-9.
UWG (22-24, 13-15 GSC) struggled on the mound, giving up 12 runs on 14 hits to VSU (25-17, 17-11 GSC).
Will Dean got the start for West Georgia and allowed two runs in the first inning, putting the Wolves in a 2-0 deficit before UWG countered in the bottom half.
Patrick McCullough and
Cooper Prince began West Georgia's side with back-to-back singles, leading to
Luke Hatcher recording his 38th RBI of the season via an RBI-single.
Dean's struggles continued in the next inning as Valdosta State extended their lead to 5-1 after a three-run homer from Ryan Romano.
The Blazers continued to pour it on in the third as they scored two more runs off of Dean, pushing their lead to 7-1.
West Georgia got within four in the bottom of the third after another RBI-single from Hatcher and a throwing error from VSU that scored Prince.
After three innings, Dean's afternoon was done as head coach
Jeff Smith brought in
Jack Rasmussen to pitch the fourth. Rasmussen retired the Blazers' side 1-2-3, bringing the Wolves' bats back to the plate where
Sam Ladner brought West Georgia within two after a mammoth two-run home run that dinged off the new scoreboard in left field.
After two shut out innings from Rasmussen, Coach Smith called on
Jonathan Hickman who struggled out of the pen, giving up four runs in the inning before getting an out. Hickman would later retire the side as UWG fell into an 11-5 hole.
The Wolves got a run back in the bottom of the seventh after an RBI-single from Witmer, before VSU extended their lead back to six courtesy of an RBI-single from Cole Steinmatz to make it 12-6 Blazers.
Down to their final six outs in the bottom of the eighth, UWG made it a three-run game courtesy of Lander who hit his second homer of the game right before McCullough went deep to cut the Wolves' deficit to 12-9.
In the ninth, UWG couldn't push any more runs across as they fell, 12-9 in Game One.
West Georgia and Valdosta State will conclude their three-game series with a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday. Before Game Two begins on Saturday, UWG will honor 17 of their seniors for senior day.
