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LIVINGSTON, Ala. – Hitting the road for the first time in conference play, the University of West Alabama baseball team is set to make the long trek to Valdosta State for a three-game set this weekend. The series between the Tigers (15-10, 2-3 Gulf South Conference) and VSU (12-16, 3-6 GSC) is slated to start with a 2 p.m. CDT doubleheader on Saturday.

UWA will be looking for more comfortable endings to this weekend's contests as the Tigers have played five consecutive one-run games. In that stretch, the squad won the first three before dropping the final two, and thus lost two of three to Alabama in Huntsville a weekend ago.

If the Tigers are to have a larger margin of victory, they will have to produce better offensively.

In conference play, only Brian Simone (.444) and Ladarrius Cole (.350) are hitting above .300 as the team is hitting just .209. Simone also leads with a team-best three doubles and nine RBI in GSC action, while Cole has scored a team-high seven runs.

But despite the hitting woes, the Red and White have been in every GSC game it has played thanks to one of the best pitching staffs in the league.

The squad features the second-best team ERA in the Gulf South Conference at 2.82 while limiting opponents to a .219 batting average – a mark that is good for third in the league. Giving up just 167 hits, the group is the GSC's best in that category, while the 37 extra-base hits the team has allowed is by far the fewest surrendered by a conference school.

The Blazers come into the contest on a three-game winning streak, defeating North Georgia before sweeping a pair of contests from Lambuth last weekend.

Featuring six batters that hit .300 or better, the Valdosta State offense has been fairly impressive especially in hitting 29 home runs in a season that has seen a diminished power output because of new NCAA bat regulations.

Bobby Triglia is tops on the squad with six long balls, and he also boasts 24 runs driven in. That RBI total matches him with Christian Gleason who has also knocked in 24 while hitting at a .358 clip on the strength of 11 doubles, a triple, and five homers.

The pitching staff for the Blazers owns a group ERA of 5.90 but has some impressive pieces. Spencer Butler has made six starts while putting together a 2-3 record and a 5.59 ERA, but his most notable stat is that he has struck out 34 batters in just 19.1 innings.

The Tigers will be looking for revenge as this weekend's hosts swept last year's three game set from UWA. 

All three games will be carried on ESPN 104.9 FM and at www.espn1049.com with live stats available at www.vstateblazers.com.