VALDOSTA, Ga. – No. 1 Florida Southern claimed a 13-5 victory in the first game before winning game two 8-2 as the Mocs swept a non-conference doubleheader from No. 12 Valdosta State at Billy Grant Field Saturday afternoon.

Valdosta State (18-7) opened the scoring in game one in the bottom of the first inning. Ryan Danbury singled to open the frame and scored two batters later when Brandon Decker hit his eighth home run of the year.

The Blazers added a third run in the second inning as Bobby Triglia scored on a suicide squeeze by Chris Jones before Florida Southern (20-2) took advantage of a VSU error in the third to cut its deficit to 3-2.

Trae Gore walked to open the inning before Colin Kaline reached on a fielding error. Kelvin Clark walked to load the bases and Wade Kirkland hit a sacrifice fly that plated Gore while Clark later scored on an Andrew Grutka single.

Valdosta State loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the third, but the Mocs got out of the inning unscathed while FSC broke the game open with 11 runs in the seventh. Kirkland delivered two big hits in the inning as he singled in his first at-bat to score Gore for the tying run before hitting a grand slam for the final four runs of the inning which gave Florida Southern a 13-3 advantage.

VSU added the final two runs of the game in the eighth.

Ross Gusky (4-1) took the loss for the Blazers as he allowed eight hits and nine runs, seven earned, in six and a third innings. Max Russell (5-0) earned the victory after surrendering six hits and four runs in seven and a third on the mound.

Florida Southern took advantage of four VSU errors in the second inning of game two to jump out to a 4-0 lead. Each of the first three batters of the inning reached on an error before a strikeout for the first out of the inning. Kyle Gibbs hit into a fielder’s choice that scored the first run of the game while Kaline singled to score two more. A Clark single to right plated Gore for the final run of the frame.

The Mocs added another run in the third and two more in the fifth before the Blazers struck for two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Danbury accounted for both runs as he plated Josh Higginbotham with a triple before scoring on a wild pitch.

Kaline hit a run scoring single in the seventh to close out the scoring.

Brett Kennedy took the loss for Valdosta State as he allowed nine hits and seven runs, only three of which were earned, in five innings of work to fall to 4-3. Gus Schlosser earned the victory after surrendering six hits and two runs in a complete game effort to improve to 4-2.

The two teams conclude the three-game series on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at Billy Grant Field.