VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer baseball team hosted a pair of Top-10-ranked teams at Jerry Blemker Field Friday afternoon for the first of a two-day series between the three teams.
Vincennes fell in the first game of the day to NJCAA Division-I No. 7 Wabash Valley 16-0 in five innings and fell 16-7 to NJCAA Division-II No. 6-ranked Kellogg Community College in the afternoon game.
Wabash Valley wasted little time getting on the scoreboard in the first game of the day, as the leadoff hitter got on base with a single and came around to score on a fielding error later in the inning, giving the Warriors a 1-0 lead.
The Warriors did most of their damage in the middle innings of the game however, scoring five runs in the second, six runs in the third and four runs in the fourth to take a commanding 16-0 lead heading into the fifth.
Vincennes had a tough time getting baserunners against Wabash Valley's starting pitching with sophomore Peyton Lane (New Paris, Ohio) being the only VU batter to reach base through the four innings on a fielding error and a hit by pitch.
VU's first hit of the game came in the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff single by freshman Kaden Elliott (New Albany, Ind.).
The Trailblazers were unable to bring this runner around to score however as the game ended after five innings with the final score of 16-0.
Sophomore Kestler Harbuck (Brooksville, Fla.) took the mound in the first game of the day and threw 2.1 innings, giving up 10 runs on seven hits and striking out two.
Sophomore Ryan Bartley (Tuscola, Ill.) pitched 0.2 innings in relief, giving up five runs on two hits and striking out one.
Sophomore Camden Greer (Boonville, Ind.) pitched in the fourth inning, giving up one run on one hit and striking out one.
Freshman Cauy Motsinger (Salem, Ind.) took the mound in the fifth to and gave up one hit and struck out the final two batters he faced.
Vincennes looked to shake off this tough start to the day when facing No. 6 Kellogg CC in the final game of the day Friday.
The Bruins were the first team on the board, scoring in the first after a leadoff double came around to give Kellogg an early 1-0 lead.
Vincennes answered back in the bottom of the first to even the score after sophomore Colin Long (Evansville, Ind.) scored after reaching base by an error.
Kellogg regained the lead with a run in the second and looked to gain full control of the game with a massive, nine-run inning in the fourth to take an 11-1 lead.
The Trailblazers would chip away at the big lead with a leadoff single by freshman Colton Evans (Henderson, Ky.), followed by a two-run home run by sophomore Connor VanLannen (Clinton, Ind.).
Vincennes would add two more runs in the fifth before Kellogg would plate three runs in the sixth to grow their lead back to 15-5.
Needing a run to extend the game, VanLannen hit a two out RBI double to drive home Colin Long to extend the game to the seventh inning.
"Connor has been doing well all year at the plate," VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. "He's had some bad luck, but he's been hitting the ball hard and today he got a few to fall in. Obviously it's hard to catch it when he hits it over the fence but he also did a good job of hitting a double down the line later to get another RBI."
"He's been doing it all year for us and hopefully he can step up on the mound tomorrow in game one against Kellogg," Barney added.
Kellogg would get a run back in the seventh before VU would get a pinch hit leadoff single by freshman Jordan Roth (Delphi, Ind.), who was later driven in on a single by freshman Ethan Burdette (Linton, Ind.).
This would be as close as the Blazers would get however as the Bruins finished off the 16-7 win at Jerry Blemker Field.
Freshman Dawson Blaylock (Eaton, Ohio) got the start for VU against the Bruins throwing 3.1 innings, giving up five runs on four hits and striking out three.
The highlight of the game on the mound was from freshman Caleb Moore (Wentzville, Mo.) who entered the game in the seventh with the bases loaded and no outs and struck out all three batters he faced in the inning.
"We just didn't do very well today," Barney said. "Obviously Wabash Valley is a top-10 team in the country and Kellogg is one of the top-six teams in the country in Division II right now and we just didn't get it done on the mound."
"We also didn't get it done defensively today either," Barney added. "We faced a kid for Wabash Valley that is really good and has outstanding numbers and he just kept those numbers rolling and kept us down. But we have to give ourselves a better chance defensively and on the bump with some guys. We ran a ton of guys out there to see what they could do and some guys did alright and others not so much. But we've got to play better defense against some really good competition."
The Trailblazers will hope to have a better outing tomorrow, March 5 as VU will take on Kellogg CC at 11 a.m. eastern and close out the weekend set by facing Wabash Valley at 5 p.m. eastern at Jerry Blemker Field.
"It's just got to take a little bit of focus and concentration and a better job defensively," Barney said. "Giving up and error here or there isn't bad but having five in a game is inexcusable. We've just got to be better than that during the two games tomorrow."
VINCENNES BOX SCORE
GAME ONE
Wabash Valley – 156 40 – 16
VU (5-6) – 000 00 – 0
VINCENNES STATS
SB – Lane.
GAME TWO
Kellogg – 110 913 1 – 16
VU (5-7) – 100 221 1 – 7
VINCENNES HITTING
2B – VanLannen. HR – VanLannen. RBI – Burdette, VanLannen 3, Williams, Kapostasy. SB – Lane.
