Baseball | 2/7/2004 7:03:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 VALDOSTA – The Barry University baseball team dropped both ends of an afternoon doubleheader earlier today falling to the Valdosta State Blazers 4-3 and 7-3 at Billy Grant Field.

In game one, the Blazers jumped out in front early on when leadoff hitter Jermaine Johnson got things started in the bottom of the first reaching on an infield single, then stole second before advancing to third on an errant throw by Bucs catcher Carlos de la Osa. Johnson later came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Matt Rucker to give the Blazers the early 1-0 lead.

Neither team was able to score over the next couple innings until the bottom of the sixth when the Bucs bats began to heat up. Alex Meneses and Carlos de la Osa led got things started with back-to-back singles to right-field leaving runners at the corners with clean-up man Keith Barton stepping to the plate with nobody out. Barton responded coming through in the clutch stroking a single to left scoring Meneses from third knotting the game at 1-1. Later on in the same inning Brian Lima stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs and he plated two more runs with a seeing eye single through the right side which put the Bucs out in front 3-1 and gave them their first lead of the afternoon.

The Blazers bats weren't through though as they added two more in the bottom half of the seventh thanks to some timely hitting to knot the game at 3-3 sending it into extra frames.

Neither team was able to break the tie in extra-innings until the bottom of the ninth when Valdosta's Micah Smith led off the inning with a single and eventually got all the way over to third-base after a passed ball and a ground out to the right side. Smith eventually came around to score when Meneses was unable to come up with a hard hit ground ball at short allowing the run to score and giving the Blazers the win.

Robert Riley picked up the loss in relief for the Bucs dropping his record to 0-1, while starter Jayson Brown earned a no-decision after pitching 6 1/3 innings in his first collegiate appearance giving up just 3 earned runs and striking out 7. Michael Martinez earned the victory for Valdosta pitching four innings in relief.

In game two, the Blazers again drew first blood putting together three straight hits with nobody out in the bottom of the second to take a 1-0 lead, but the Bucs again came storming back when Cesar Aranguren delivered a two-out two-run single in the top half of the third to put the Bucs out in front 2-1. However, as they did in game 1, the Blazers rallied back scoring 6 in their half of the fourth to take a 7-2 and held on the rest of the way. The Bucs only other run came with two outs in the bottom of the seventh when de la Osa drove a homerun over the right field wall.

Buccaneer Chris Casale picked up the loss, while Robbie Wachman earned his first victory of the season.

The Bucs and Blazers meet tomorrow at 1:00 pm for the third and final game of the three-game series before heading back down south to host Lynn on Tuesday night at 6:00 pm.
Game 1

Valdosta State 4, Barry 3 (Feb 07, 2004 at Valdosta, Ga.) (Game 1)
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Barry............... 000 003 000 - 3 7 4 (1-1)
Valdosta State...... 100 000 201 - 4 8 1 (2-0)
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Pitchers: Barry - Brown; Naber(7); Riley(8). Valdosta State - Stewart; Martinez(6).
Win-Martinez(1-0) Loss-Riley(0-1) T-2:47 A-213
Stewart faced 3 batters in the 6th.
Game: BB207

Game 2
Valdosta State 7, Barry 3 (2/07/2004 at Valdosta, Ga.) (Game 2)
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Barry............... 002 000 1 - 3 7 0 (1-2)
Valdosta State...... 010 600 X - 7 12 2 (2-0)
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Pitchers: Barry - Casale; Davila(4); Adams(4). Valdosta State - Wachman; Kitchens(5);
Mason Smith(7).
Win-Wachman(1-0) Loss-Casale(0-1) T-2:30 A-368
HR BUB - de la Osa.
Davila faced 4 batters in the 4th.
Game: BB207B