Valdosta is Titletown USA. That is old news. However, Valdosta State University has a great chance of adding more titles to the already impressive resume of the town.
This May, all five spring sports at VSU will be competing on the national level, as all five teams are currently ranked inside the top 20 of their respected Division II sports polls.
“We’re obviously very pleased with how our spring sports are doing,” Herb Reinhard, VSU athletic director, said. “It is not really surprising. If you go back and check this time last year, we were probably in this situation last year. Traditionally our spring sports do very well and they are usually very competitive and we have very talented student athletes and very good coaches.”
The VSU golf team is ranked 17th, baseball is ranked 13th, women’s tennis is ranked sixth, and the Lady Blazers softball team and the men’s tennis team are ranked second in the nation.
This weekend all the teams except golf will be in action. The No. 2 softball team is participating in the Gulf South Conference Cross-Over event in Decatur, Ala. as they will compete seven times in just four days.
The baseball team is set for a three-game weekend series at the University of North Alabama as Brett Kennedy, Ross Gusky and Jeremy Forbus will head to the mound for the Blazers. VSU slugger Brandon Decker will look to continue his hot bat.
Decker leads the Gulf South Conference in homeruns, runs scored, total bases and batting average. The three games this weekend against the Lions will mark a five-game week for the Blazers, something which VSU has yet to do this season.
Both tennis teams are at home this weekend against top ranked Armstrong Atlantic. Both AAU teams enter the season as the defending Division II NCAA tennis champions.
Although Valdosta State is commonly known as a football school, the other sports are making their case of why they should be the headline sports of the university. The VSU men’s basketball team reached the Elite 8 this season before being knocked out by IUP, and now the spring sports are making their move to the top of the universities sports teams.