VALDOSTA, GA. (vstateblazers.com) — The Valdosta State baseball team learned Sunday evening that it earned a No. 4-seed in the upcoming NCAA South Regional #1, scheduled for Thursday-Saturday at the University of Tampa. The Blazers qualify for their 22nd appearance in the NCAA postseason.
The Blazers, along with top-seeded Tampa, No. 5-seed Nova Southeastern and No. 8-seed Spring Hill College complete the four-team South Region #1 Pod. The South Regional #2 Pod features No. 2-seed Saint Leo, No. 3-seed Rollins, No. 6-seed Delta State and No. 7-seed Lee. The winners of each of the four-team pods will meet in a Super Regional, scheduled for a best-of-three series, May 27-28, at the highest remaining seed to see who earns a berth in the NCAA Division II National Championship rounds, scheduled for June 4-11 in Cary, N.C., at the USA Baseball Training Complex.
This season, the Blazers (30-14) went 4-1 against the entire regional field with a pair of wins over Saint Leo, a loss to Nova Southeastern and two wins over Lee. The Blazers were 17-9 in Gulf South Conference play during the regular season and finished second in the league standings behind regular season champion Delta State.
Nova Southeastern went 34-15 this season and 17-13 in Sunshine State Conference play. The Sharks downed VSU in the second week of the season in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in a single game. NSU leads the all-time series with VSU, 11-7.
VSU went 1-2 in the Gulf South Conference Championship with a win over West Florida and losses to Alabama Huntsville and Shorter. Spring Hill won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title and Tampa claimed the regular season in the Sunshine State Conference.
The Blazers won the national title in 1979 for the school's first national title in any sport. VSU is 52-46 all-time in the NCAA Championship, along with two third-place finishes and three times finishing fourth. VSU went 2-2 in the regional in 2019 at Delta State, falling to the Statesmen in the four-team pod championship game.
