OXFORD, Ala. — Following a brief rain delay to begin the day, the 2023 Gulf South Conference Baseball Championship opened on Friday from Choccolocco Park at Oxford, Ala.
Day one of the tournament saw a pair of surprises as No. 6-seed Shorter downed No. 3 Alabama Huntsville, 3-0, while No. 7 Lee upset No. 2 Montevallo, 10-2. Valdosta State went extra innings to defeat West Georgia, 6-5. Top-seeded West Florida meanwhile rallied past No. 8 Delta State, 5-3.
Day two of the tournament will start with UAH and Montevallo in an elimination game, first pitch is slate for 10 am CT. UWG and Delta State will be the other elimination game. In the winner’s bracket Shorter will face Lee, while Valdosta State and West Florida will go head-to-head.
All four games will stream live on FloSports. For more information visit gscsports.org/bsb23.
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
Shorter 3, Alabama Huntsville 0
A strong outing on the mound from Shorter starter and Freshman of the Year, Tanner Folds, helped the Hawks upset No. 3-seeded UAH in the tournament opener.
Folds went the distance and was credited with the complete-game shutout. The redshirt-freshman struck out three and surrendered five hits.
Following the rain delay, the Hawks wasted little time getting on the board as Kobe Jones turned on the second pitch of the day for a lead-off home run in the first. Shorter than scored twice more in the fifth, as Jacob Pajer and Thomas Schroeder IV each drove in a run.
Lee 10, Montevallo 2
The Flames had nine different batters with a hit, including Malachi Cloud who was a team-best 2-for-4. Meanwhile Noah Hattier, Cam Suto, Brandon Daniels, and Riley Black finished with two RBI a piece.
Montevallo opened the scoring with a solo shot by Barry Eisema in the first, but Lee responded with 10 consecutive runs over the next seven innings. The Flames took the lead with a four-run third, before adding three in the fourth, one in the fifth and two in the seventh.
The Falcons capped the scoring the scoring with a single to left to score Reed Latimer. The run however was unable to spark a rally as Montevallo stranded a runner in the eighth and two more in the ninth.
Valdosta State 6, West Georgia 5 (11 INN)
The Blazers edged out a 6-5 victory in 11 innings to remain in the winner’s bracket, despite being outhit 12-9 against in-state West Georgia.
The Wolves were led at the plate by Anthony Calabro who went 3-for-6 with two RBI, while Cade Hohl was 3-for-7. Logan Fink (2-for-6) and Cooper Prince (2-for-4) also logged multi-hit outings. Valdosta State’s Jacob Harper meanwhile was 2-for-4 with two RBI, while teammate Nick Gonzalez went 2-for-5 with one RBI.
Trailing 5-4, the Blazers tied the game in the eighth as Brandon Gandy registered a sacrifice fly to score JP Gates from third after drawing a four-pitch to start the inning. Scoreless in the next two frames, the game stretched into the 11th, where a wild pitch allowed Gandy to score the winning run.
West Florida 5, Delta State 3
Strong pitching and timely hitting helped the Argonauts advance to the winner’s bracket. UWF finished with a 10-6 advantage in the hit column with seven different players registering hit, led by Jackson Grabsky with was 3-for-4. On the other side of the scorebook, four different Statesmen had logged a hit, led by Brett Cobb who was 3-for-4.
Trailing 3-1 in the sixth, Darrien McDowell pushed UWF into the lead with a three-run home run to right field, making it 4-3. The Argos then added an insurance run in the seventh to provide the final. The game opened with DSU taking a 3-0 lead in the second before UWF pushed a run across in the fourth.
On the mound, Argo starter and GSC Pitcher of the Year Dalton Neuschwander was credited with the win following a strong outing, as he struck out eight in 6.0 innings of work while allowing three runs, one earned, on three htis. Reliever Salvatore Ferro meanwhile picked up a three-inning save as he struckout four and only allowed one runner on base.