NORMAL, Ill. – The Vincennes University baseball season likely came to a close Thursday afternoon at the Corn Crib in Normal, Ill. with the No. 5 seed Blazers falling 6-5 to No. 3-seed Parkland College in an elimination game at the Mid-West Athletic Conference (MWAC) tournament.

The game Thursday began almost exactly like VU's opening round game against Danville Area with Vincennes trailing early after Parkland hit a three-run home run in the first inning.

VU would get a run back in the second however, after a leadoff triple by sophomore Connor VanLannen (Clinton, Ind.). VanLannen would later score on a groundout by freshman Jordan Roth (Delphi, Ind.).

After the Cobras pushed across a run in the fourth, the Trailblazers rallied back to tie the game in the sixth with sophomores Peyton Lane (New Paris, Ohio), Connor VanLannen, Dale Coy (Evansville, Ind.) and freshman Jordan Roth leading off the inning with four straight hits.

Freshman Nick Williams (Alexandria, Ind.) would get a run across later in the inning with a pinch hit, bases loaded walk.

Parkland would immediately grab the lead back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth before Vincennes answered back with a run in the seventh.

VU scored in the seventh after Peyton Lane was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. The VU batters showed patience at the plate all game and managed to walk in a run without recording a hit in the inning to cut the deficit to 6-5.

This would be as close as the Blazers would get though, as Vincennes got runners on the corners with one out in the ninth and failed to get the tying run in to score.

Freshman Will Egger (Terre Haute, Ind.) ripped a hard hit ball down the third base line that could have possibly given the Blazers the lead, but the ball landed just foul.

Sophomore Kestler Harbuck (Brooksville, Fla.) got the ball to start the game for the Blazers and battled back after the three run first inning to throw five innings, allowing five runs on five hits and striking out five.

Sophomore Luke Osborn (Perrysville, Ind.) held the Cobras in check for the final three innings in relief, allowing one run on three hits and striking out two.

"I'm extremely proud of our guys," VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. "They battled all game after being down 3-0 against a good club that finished third in the conference. I'm just extremely proud of how our guys battled. We got it done on the mound. We were a pitch or two short here or there on the mound and a couple inches short in the field with a hit or there in a couple different innings and it's a whole different game."

"We talked about how it's a game of inches and it literally was tonight," Barney added. "In the last inning, Will Egger's ball was inches foul and if that gets past we are scoring one, maybe two on that play. It's a long season and at some point it has to end, unfortunately ours ended tonight for the sophomores that are on this club."

"These sophomores this year have been great stewards of the program," Barney said. "They have been tremendous leaders for our program and have done a great job of teaching our young guys, not only on the field but off the field as well."

"My hat is off to each one of those sophomores for everything they have accomplished this year," Barney added.

The VU season comes to a close with a final record of 25 wins and 31 losses, including 15 wins and 19 losses against MWAC Conference opponents.

"Our sophomores have done a great job all year and have grown as the year has gone on," Barney said. "We also had freshmen like Colton Evans (Henderson, Ky.) or Jordan Roth stepping up. All three of our freshman catchers got to play, whether it was Mahkai Pelzer (Douglasville, Ga.), Will Egger or Noah Clark (Lapel, Ind.)."

"There were some other freshmen who got some big opportunities to play," Barney added. "Kobe Bartlett (Rockport, Ind.) stepped in for us in center field the last two weeks after Colin Long (Evansville, Ind.) went down. There were a lot of freshmen that got a lot of experience this year."

BOX SCORE

VU (25-32, 15-19) – 010   003   100 – 5

Parkland – 300   102   00x – 6

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Lane. 3B – VanLannen. RBI – Coy, Roth 2, Sizemore, Williams. HBP – Lane. SB – Lane, Sizemore.