VALDOSTA, Ga. – Splitting the day with the hosts, the West Alabama baseball team took the first game of its Saturday doubleheader with Valdosta State by a 6-2 score before falling 11-2 in the nightcap at Billy Grant Field. The Tigers now sit at 16-11 (3-4 Gulf South Conference) while VSU owns a 13-17 (4-7 GSC) mark.

The two teams will decide the series on Sunday with the rubber match slated for noon CDT.

UWA won the first contest on the strength of solid pitching and the long ball as the Red and White had a multi-home run day for the first time since Mar. 6 and just the third time all season.

It was, however, the Blazers that struck first in the contest as a bloop double off the bat of Ryan Noelte scored Tyler Reimer in the fifth inning.

Striking back quickly, Brian Simone – who was celebrating his birthday – blasted his second homer of the season over the fence in right with one out in the sixth, scoring Ladarrius Cole after he had reached on a walk to start the inning.

The scored remained 2-1 in favor of the Tigers until the seventh when the hosts scored a run to knot things up at 2-2, but again the Red and White would respond in quick fashion.

In the top half of the eighth, Simone led the frame off with a walk and scored the go-ahead run when Kevin Deese belted a long fly over a tall advertisement sign in right-center. The dinger was Deese's fourth of the season and put him back on top of the UWA ledger with 25 runs driven in.

With his pair of RBI, Simone sits second on the team with 24. The Amherstburg, Ontario, native finished the contest with a pair of hits in three at-bats, and he also drew a pair of walks en route to scoring three times.

Though not factoring into the decision, UWA starter Jeb Huber was strong on the mound in his six innings of work. He did give up five walks, but he also struck out nine batters – one more than he racked up a weekend ago against Alabama in Huntsville. Taylor Bratton (2-2) pitched 1.1 innings and did not allow a run to pick up the win for the Tigers.

Bud Fuller (2-2) pitched to three batters in the eighth and gave up the home run to Deese to draw the loss.

The Blazers responded from the UWA triumph, however, with the convincing win in the nightcap.

Capitalizing on 12 walks, Valdosta State scored two runs in the second and nine in the third as each spot in the VSU lineup crossed the plate in the frame.

The Red and White did scratch a couple across in the fifth as Cole picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the inning. He finished the day with four hits in the two games combined, and the Shannon, Miss., native recorded his 14th stolen base of the season in the nightcap to remain perfect on the year in swipe attempts.

Brett Kennedy (3-3) went the distance for Valdosta State in picking up the win, while Colter Millican (2-3) was charged with the loss.