Written by Alex Tostado

Catcher Bryant Hayman’s game-winning base hit in the bottom of the ninth to bring home Dan Hoover helped outlast the Columbus State Cougars in a 4-3 win on Wednesday night.

“They had been pitching me away all day and I just wanted to make sure I didn’t do too much,” Hayman said.

While the Blazers improve to 6-2 on the season, the Cougars fall to 3-9.

VSU’s offense struggled to get off the ground all game until it came down to the wire when sophomore Hayman came through with the clutch play.

Nick Fogarty did not have the ideal rebound start following his perfect game the team was hoping for.

The Blazers’ pitching stalled at the beginning of the game.

In his first start since his perfect game; Fogarty went three innings and gave up three runs on six hits.

Sophomore pitchers Dom Demasi allowed three hits and zero runs in two innings after coming into relieve Fogarty for the Blazers in the sixth inning.

“Everybody has their off days and I am not going to hold it against [Fogarty],” Demasi said. “I just went out there and just tried to do my job and just [take] it a pitch at a time.”

The four strike-out performance was good enough to keep the game close and pave the way for senior pitcher Benjamin Weil.

Weil held the Cougars to zero runs while striking out three batters in almost two innings of work.

“I thought our bullpen was outstanding tonight,” head coach Greg Guilliams said. “We played good defense and finally got that big two-out base hit… before [the Cougars] did.”