Delta State Baseball Advances to Final Day of GSC Tournament

CARROLLTON, Ga. (WCBI/DSU Athletics) — The Delta State University Statesmen Baseball team defeated West Alabama 10-0 Wednesday afternoon to advance to the final day of the 2013 Gulf South Conference Tournament.

(Delta State Athletics)
Pitcher Josh Branstetter earned the win in the 8-inning victory over West Alabama.

The Statesmen used a five-run second inning, in part to three Tigers errors, to take a quick lead and never looked back, winning in eight innings by run rule with a walk off single by Jordan Chovanec to score the tenth and final run.

Josh Branstetter pitched a complete game shut out to improve to 9-2 on the season, scattering just five hits and a walk. Branstetter had five strikeouts in the game.

Delta State combined for 16 hits on the day with two walks and just three strikeouts. Seven Statesmen starters recorded a hit and all nine starters reached base in the game.

For consecutive games, Chovanec had three hits to help lead the Statesmen. The junior went 3-of-5 at the plate with a run scored and two RBIs. He also reached with a hit by pitch.

Brent Langston and Josh Crowdus also had three hits a piece. Langston was 3-of-5 with three runs scored. Crowdus was 3-of-4 with three RBIs and a run scored, while also reaching base with a hit by pitch.

Michael Vinson, Kasey Hinton, and Carlos Leal each had a pair of hits as well. Vinson scored two runs, while Hinton and Leal each crossed home once. Leal also had an RBI.

In the second inning, Vinson reached on a single to start the inning. Langston and Leal then reached on fielding errors to load the bases. Crowdus followed it up with a single to score Vinson. After Chovanec reached on a fielder’s choice that caught Langston out at home, Sam Kidd had a two RBI single to left, scoring Leal and Crowdus. Tyler Aldridge then reached on a fielding error by West Alabama to load the bases again. Ben Kingsley was then hit by a pitch to score Chovanec from third and Kidd scored on a wild pitch in the next at bat.

Delta State added a run in the third with an RBI single up the middle from Chovanec, scoring Langston, who reached with a lead off single, from second. Langston then reached on a lead off single in the fifth inning and came around to score on a Crowdus single through the right side.

The Statesmen added another run in the sixth inning as Vinson scored on a single to center by Leal.

The Green-and-White won the game in the eighth inning, scoring a pair of runs on just one out to activate the 10-run rule victory. Langston led off the inning with his third lead-off single of the game. After a double from Hinton put runners on second and third, Langston scored on a Crowdus single through the right side. Chovanec followed it up with a walk-off single, scoring Hinton to end the game.

Delta State will advance to the final day of the Tournament and will face the winner of West Georgia (2-1) and Valdosta State (3-0) in the first of two possible games tomorrow.

If West Georgia wins Wednesday afternoon’s game with Valdosta State, the Statesmen will play West Georgia in a semifinal game with the winner playing the Blazers for the GSC Championship. If Valdosta State wins Wednesday afternoon’s game with West Georgia, Delta State will need to defeat Valdosta State twice to claim the GSC Championship.