ALTON, Ill. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer baseball team opened their four-game Mid-West Athletic Conference series Sunday afternoon against the Lewis & Clark CC Trailblazers.

The series was pushed back a day after the rain in the forecast for Saturday and was moved to nearby Lloyd Hopkins Field in Alton, Ill.

Vincennes took game one of the series 17-7 before host Lewis & Clark battled back to take game two 11-4.

Lewis & Clark got the day started early with L&C plating three runs in the first.

Vincennes battled back to narrow the margin in the third with back to back RBI singles by freshman Ethan Burdette (Linton, Ind.) and sophomore Colin Long (Evansville, Ind.).

VU took the lead in the following inning with a two-RBI double by freshman Will Egger (Terre Haute, Ind.) as Vincennes held a 4-3 advantage.

The visiting Trailblazers extended their lead in the fifth on an RBI triple by sophomore Connor VanLannen (Clinton, Ind.), followed by a two-run home run by sophomore Dale Coy (Evansville, Ind.).

Lewis & Clark responded to even the game at seven-all in the bottom of the inning, before VU broke the tie in the sixth with a sacrifice fly by Long, an RBI double by sophomore Peyton Lane (New Paris, Ohio) and a three-run home run by freshman Colton Evans (Henderson, Ky.).

Vincennes built off of this momentum in the seventh as Lewis & Clark committed three errors in the inning and allowed VU to score five more runs to take what would be the winning margin of 17-7.

VanLannen got the series started on the mound for Vincennes and lasted five strong innings, allowing seven runs, only two earned on four hits and striking out five.

Sophomore Braedon Nichols (Sullivan, Ind.) took over on the mound and finished out the final two innings allowing only one hit and punching out one.

"Connor VanLannen was able to keep us in the game with five innings on the mound and obviously Nichols threw really well in the final two to close it out," VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. "We put some big runs up in the fifth with a single and triple, then a home run by Dale Coy. Then we got another home run in the sixth by Evans."

"A lot of guys contributed in game one," Barney added. "Every guy one through nine contributed in those later innings. We got some more runs in the seventh off of some errors, so we were able to take advantage of their mistakes, especially later in the game as we had a lead and were able to add to it."

VU kept their hot bats going to start game two of the day as Connor VanLannen came through with a three-run home run in the top of the first as Vincennes grabbed the early lead.

Lewis & Clark answered back in the bottom half of the inning, tying the game at 3-3.

Vincennes would take the lead back in the third after Peyton Lane hit a double and came around to score on an RBI single by freshman Jordan Roth (Delphi, Ind.).

L&C answered back with a pair of runs in the third, a big five-run inning in the fifth and an insurance run in the fifth as the host Trailblazers came away with the 11-4 game two win.

Sophomore Kestler Harbuck (Brooksville, Fla.) got the start in game two and threw into the fourth inning, allowing nine runs on seven hits and striking out three.

Freshman Eli Steimel (Sullivan, Ind.) took the ball first out of the bullpen and threw one and a third innings allowing two runs on four hits and striking out one.

Freshman Jake Stuteville (Rockport, Ind.) held serve on the mound, throwing an inning and two-thirds and holding Lewis & Clark hitless during his time on the mound.

"Game two was just a matter of working ahead of our starting pitcher," Barney said. "I stuck with him, he was making some quality pitches, we just weren't getting the calls. Then Lewis & Clark's three hole batter matched his home run total for the year today with three. He did some damage against us and we just had to respond. We walked their nine hole batter twice. Five of their 11 runs were stoppable if we make pitches and make plays behind him."

"11-4 score, obviously we are not happy with that, but we have to bounce back tomorrow and figure it out to at least come out of here one or two wins here tomorrow," Barney added.

The two Trailblazer teams will get set for the final two games of the four-game set tomorrow, Monday, May 2, at Lloyd Hopkins Field. First pitch tomorrow is scheduled for 12 p.m. eastern.

"We've got to play some really good defense and we've got to get some quality pitching tomorrow," Barney said. "We also have to continue to swing the bats well. We swung well in both games today, they just didn't fall for us in the second game as well as we had hoped."

"We need to continue to swing it, play better defense and get some quality pitching out of our starters and out of our bullpens tomorrow," Barney added.

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

GAME ONE

VU (19-24, 9-12) – 002   235   5 – 17

Lewis & Clark = 300   040   0 – 7

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Burdette, Lane, Egger, Sizemore, Long. 3B – VanLannen. HR – Coy, Evans. – RBI – Burdette, Long 3, Lane 2, Evans 3, VanLannen, Coy 2, Egger 3. HBP – Thyen, Roth. SF – Long. SB – Lane 2, Evans, Sizemore.

GAME TWO

VU (19-25, 9-13) – 301   000   0 – 4

Lewis & Clark – 302   510   x – 11

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Lane, Roth. HR – VanLannen. RBI – VanLannen 3, Roth. HBP – Evans.