The Valdosta State Blazers baseball team has been picked to win the 2010 Gulf South Conference Eastern Division by the GSC coaches, while the Lady Blazers softball team has been picked to finish second in the East Division according to an announcement by the GSC office earlier this week.
The Blazers won the 2008 GSC East Division, however finished third last season. Despite the third place finish in the division last season, the Blazers made the GSC Championship game. The Blazers were eliminated in the early stages of the NCAA tournament.
 The Blazers enter 2010 missing two key weapons from last year’s team, Matt Costello and Brandon Graves, both of whom were drafted in the 2009 Major League Baseball draft.
 The Blazers will be led in 2010 by Jon Koesingfield and Brandon Decker, who was selected to the All-GSC Pre-season team, while first baseman Clayton Cain should provide a spark for the Blazers along with Jordon Yost, a Division I transfer from West Virginia University.
 The Lady Blazers softball team dominated the Gulf South Conference last season as they rolled to the conference championship. Strong play from freshman infielder Marti Littlefield was the main reason for the Lady Blazer success. Littlefield set a new NCAA Division II record in home runs in a single season as she pounded 25 over the fence for the Lady Blazers in 2009.
 Littlefield will be the leader for the Lady Blazers in 2010 as she was named to the 2010 All-GSC Pre-season team. Littlefield is joined on the pre-season team by fellow Lady Blazer pitcher Holly Satterfield and catcher Alyssa Shirey.
 The Blazers, who return four position starters and five pitchers off of 2009’s NCAA South Regional team, have also garnered some national attention during the preseason as Valdosta State is ranked 26th in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper preseason poll and 10th by Ping Baseball.