(WTXL) — Florida State beach volleyball, softball and baseball, Florida A&M baseball, Valdosta State baseball, softball and women’s basketball were in action Saturday.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Lee 70, Valdosta State 52: The No. 4 seed Blazers (22-6) lost to the No. 1 seed Flames (25-5) in the semifinal round of the 2023 Gulf South Conference women’s basketball tournament Saturday at the Pete Hanna Center in Birmingham, Alabama.
Tamiya Francis led VSU with 14 points, Aleisha Curry followed with 11 points.
Haley Schubert led Lee with 26 points in the victory. Lee advanced to the GSC tournament championship game against Union Sunday.
The teams selected to compete in the NCAA Division II women’s basketball national tournament will be announced Sunday, March 5 at 10:30 p.m. online at NCAA.com.
BASEBALL
Valdosta State 6, Shorter 4: The No. 17 ranked Blazers (12-4) defeated the host Hawks (9-8) in a Gulf South Conference matchup Saturday at Shorter in Rome, Georgia.
JP Gates led VSU at the plate by going 2-for-5 with two runs scored, two home runs and three RBI. Gates contributed on the mound as he pitched 5 2/3 innings in relief, gave up four hits, three runs, but only one earned run, two walks and posted a strikeout to earn his second win of the season.
With the game tied 3-3 after nine innings, VSU took the lead in the top of the 10th inning as Gates hit a two-run home run to give the Blazers a 5-3 lead. Jakob Sessa followed with solo home run to increase the VSU advantage to 6-3.
In the bottom of the 10th inning, the Hawks scored a run on a double.
Florida Gulf Coast 11, Florida State 10: The visiting Eagles (10-1) defeated the 16th ranked Seminoles (7-3) at Howser Stadium in Tallahassee Saturday.
It was an offensive contest as Florida State had 16 hits, while FGCU tallied 11 hits. The Eagles’ 11th hit proved to be the difference in the top of the ninth inning.
With the game tied 10-10, FGCU’s Edrick Felix hit a solo home run during the frame to give the Eagles a one run lead.
LJ McDonough pitched the final inning to earn the save, while Connor O’Hara pitched scoreless eighth inning in relief to earn the win.
McGwire Holbrook led FSU with three hits, a double, a run scored and three RBI, while Felix led FGCU with two hits, three runs scored and three RBI.
Grambling State 20, Florida A&M 16: FAMU (5-8) had 11 hits, while Grambling State (3-8) posted 17 hits in a game that lasted four hours and 27 minutes Saturday at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
The contest was the second game of a doubleheader Saturday and the final game of a three-game non conference series at the Ralph Garr-Bill Lucas HBCU Baseball Classic.
The Rattlers scored 12 runs in the top of the second inning, but the Tigers scored six runs in the bottom of the second inning.
FAMU added a run in the top of the third for a 13-6 lead, but Grambling scored eight runs in the bottom of the frame to take a 14-13 lead. FAMU scored two runs in the top of the fifth for a 15-14 lead, but GSU scored a run in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 15-all.
Grambling took the lead for good in the sixth inning with four runs. Both teams scored a run in the eighth inning.
Sebastian Greico led FAMU with three hits, three runs scored and five RBI, while Cameron Bufford went 4-for-6 with three runs scored, two home runs, one of which was a grand slam and nine RBI for the Tigers in the win.
SOFTBALL
Florida State defeated Georgia Southern 4-0 and Colgate 13-2 Saturday to improve its season record to 19-3 during the Dugout Club Classic at the Seminole Softball Complex in Tallahassee.
Valdosta State 9, Shorter 2: The No. 23 ranked VSU Blazers defeated the Shorter Hawks in a Gulf South Conference game Saturday at Shorter.
The game was tied 2-2 after seven innings. In the top of the ninth inning, the visiting Blazers scored seven runs, which included solo home runs by Kinzie Nelson, Katie Proctor and Taylor Macera and a three run home run by Abby Sulte.
Sulte finished the game with three hits and three RBI, while Nelson stole home in the first inning, had two hits, two runs scored and an RBI.
Samantha Richards pitched a complete game by going nine innings, gave up eight hits, two earned runs, two walks and posted 12 strikeouts for the win to improve to 10-1 for the 2023 season.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
The Florida State beach volleyball team defeated sixth ranked Grand Canyon University 5-1 and No. 11 Stetson 5-0 at the Tampa Invitational Saturday at the University of Tampa Beach Volleyball Complex in Tampa.
