ALBANY, Ga. – No. 16 Valdosta State rode a career night from Jeremy Forbus to defeat Albany State 8-1 in non-conference baseball action at ASU Baseball Stadium Wednesday evening.

 Forbus allowed just one hit while striking out a career-high 11 in seven innings of work as he improved to improve to 2-0.Albany State (6-6) opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning with a two-out hit by De’Marcus Price. Corey Reeves reached on an infield single to open the inning and advanced two bases when William Smalls followed with an infield ground out. After a pop-up for the second out of the frame, Price singled to right, scoring Reeves for a 1-0 Golden Ram lead.

 Valdosta State (14-4) gained the lead in the top of the third as it plated three runs. Jordan Hollis reach on an infield single and moved to second when Ryan Danbury singled to right. Jon Koenigsfeld reached on a bunt single and moved all the way to third when the throw to first on the play got past Smalls, who was covering first. Clayton Cain proceeded to hit a sacrifice fly to score Koenigfeld, giving VSU a 3-1 advantage.

 The Blazers pushed their lead to 7-1 in the fourth. Antonio Clark tallied an infield single to open the frame and moved to second when Chris Jones drew a walk. Two batters later, Danbury singled to load the bases, allowing Clark to score when Koenigfeld was hit by a pitch. Cain proceeded to single off the wall in left to plate Jones while a ground out by Austin Smith brought home Danbury. Brandon Decker drove home Koenigsfeld for the final run of the inning with a single through the left-side of the infield.

 A Bobby Triglia single scored Austin Smith in the sixth to push the Blazer lead to seven runs.

 Danbury led the Blazers offensively as he was three-for-four with two runs scored. Smith and Clark finished with two hits each while Koenigsfeld drove in three runs.

 Valdosta State returns to action Saturday, March 6 when it opens a four-game series against Shippensburg at Billy Grant Field. Saturday’s doubleheader starts at 1:00 p.m. while Sunday’s first game is scheduled for a Noon first pitch.