Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
VALDOSTA, Ga. – West Florida closed out the regular season by sweeping both games Saturday on the road against Valdosta State. The Argos finished the season with a 31-17 overall record and 22-11 Gulf South Conference mark.
UWF won the first game on Saturday, 7-4 and the second game of the day, 6-4.
GAME 1 (UWF 7- VSU 4):
UWF used just one inning to score all the runs they needed to win the game. After falling behind 2-0 in the third inning, the Argos responded in the fourth inning with six runs.
Cade Easterbrook got things going for the team to start off the inning with a bunt single. The senior had both of his hits on the day in the fourth inning alone. His second hit later in the inning drove in one run to give UWF a 6-2 lead. The Argos had six hits in the fourth.
Brantley Willis,
Ben Maskin, and
Alex Urias all had RBIs in the inning on singles.
West Florida added a seventh run in the sixth inning when Urias hit an RBI single to score
Dom Presto. Urias totaled three hits for the game. UWF had 11 total hits.
Kade Manderscheid earned his fifth win of the season. The senior pitched seven innings striking out six batters.
Gabriel Moorer and
Brantley Willis also saw time on the mound. Willis earned the save.
Valdosta scored two runs in the eighth to tighten the score, but Willis closed the Blazers down in the ninth to secure the win.
GAME 2 (UWF 6-VSU 4):
In the final game of the series, it was
Brett Rowell's two-run homerun in the top of the seventh that won the game for the Argos. The game featured five homers between both teams. UWF was holding on to a narrow 4-3 lead in the seventh inning when Rowell took a 2-2 count over the right field fence to give the Argos an important 6-3 lead.
Valdosta had a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh to make it 6-4 and put two runners on base with two outs. Willis, who had come in to close out each game of the series, struck out the final Blazers' batter to help UWF complete the series win.
The third inning was a pivotal one for the Argos. Much like the first game of the day, UWF fell behind 2-0 early. The team answered in the third inning with four runs, highlighted by
Jadon Fryman's two-run homer to left field.
Jacob Heath earned his fifth win of the season and Willis got another save on the mound. Heath struck out five in six innings of action.
UWF will prepare for the GSC Championship that is set to begin on Friday, May 2 in Oxford, Ala. The Argos currently sit in third place in the conference standings.
