VALDOSTA, Ga. – The West Florida baseball team picked up a 6-4 win at Valdosta State to even their Gulf South Conference record at 11-11 in the team’s regular season finale on Sunday. The Argonauts finished the regular season 32-15 overall and 11-11 in GSC play, and they will enter next week’s conference tournament as the No. 6 seed.
Junior Brian Ellington (Gainesville, Fla./Florida State College at Jacksonville) got the start on the mound for UWF, and the right-hander lasted four and one third innings while allowing three runs and striking out five. Drew Bryson (Cullman, Ala./Wallace State-Hanceville CC) pitched two and two thirds scoreless innings out of the bullpen, and Bobby Parker (Tallahassee, Fla./Alabama Southern CC) pitched the final two innings and picked up the win to improve to 3-1 on the season.
VSU starter Dom Demasi pitched the first three innings and allowed two runs. Reliever Zach John (3-2) allowed the go-ahead run in his one and one third inning of work to pick up the loss.
The Argos had three players notch multi-hit games, including third baseman Josh Huggins (Bay Minette, Ala./Faulkner State CC), center fielder Andrew Rodriguez (Key West, Fla./Miami Dade) and right fielder Dustin Saulmon (Panama City, Fla./Alabama Southern CC). Rodriguez also tallied two walks, two runs scored and two stolen bases.
UWF got on the board first, scoring two runs in the top of the third. Saulmon and Huggins tallied RBI singles to put the Argos on top. VSU then took the lead with a three-run fifth, and two of the runs came in on a double by Christian Glisson. In the next half inning the Argos manufactured a run to tie the game 3-3, as first baseman Korey Domenick (Festus, Mo./Mineral Area) walked, advanced to third on a single and scored on a groundout.
Both teams put runs across in their half of the eighth inning to make the score 4-4. Then in the top of the ninth, the Argos took advantage of a wild pitch and an error to score two runs. Parker came back in the ninth and shut down the Blazers in order, clinching the win for West Florida.
The Argonauts will be the No. 6 seed in the GSC Tournament scheduled for May 4-8 at State Mutual Stadium in Rome, Ga. UWF will open the tournament against No. 3 seed Alabama-Huntsville on Friday, May 4 at a time to be announced at a later date. For information on all UWF Athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.