CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer baseball season continued Thursday afternoon as the Blazers headed back down to Tennessee for a doubleheader showdown with Cleveland State Community College.

The Blazers dropped both games of the doubleheader to the host Cougars, falling in game one 8-3 before dropping game two 5-4.

VU got the day started off with a bang as sophomore Dylan Ecken (Louisville, Ky.) led off the opening game of the doubleheader with a solo home run, his second home run of the season.

Sophomore Bryton Griffy (Louisville, Ill.) followed that by reaching base by a fielding error and later came around and scored on an RBI single by sophomore Kade Hinton (Fort Wayne, Ind.) to give VU an early 2-0 lead.

Cleveland State would get a run back in the bottom of the first before VU answered back with a run of their own in the second on another RBI single by Kade Hinton.

The Cougars would continue to battle, scoring a run in the second and the third innings to even the score at 3-3, before taking control of the game with a big four-run fifth inning and another run in the sixth to take an 8-3 lead.

Bryton Griffy looked to start a late rally in the seventh, leading off the inning with a single, the Blazers bats could not push a run across as VU fell in game one of the day 8-3.

Sophomore Josh McCormick (Indianapolis, Ind.) got the start on the mound for Vincennes in game one, throwing two and two-thirds innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and striking out one.

Freshman Kaleb Marrs (Terre Haute, Ind.) was the first out of the pen in game one, throwing two and a one-third innings, allowing four runs on four hits and striking out three.

Freshman Colton Okes (Evansville, Ind.) came on to pitch the sixth, allowing one run on no hits in one inning of work.

The Blazers looked to bounce back in game two at Cleveland State but got off to a slow start, with the Cougars taking an early lead with a pair of runs in the first.

VU would get on the board in the second after a leadoff walk by redshirt freshman Holden Clifton (Louisville, Ill.), who later came in to score after a bases loaded walk by freshman Brody Fessel (DePauw, Ind.).

Cleveland State would answer with two more runs in the second before the Blazers again got the leadoff man on, this time on a fielding error put in play by freshman Bradyn Douglas (Frankton, Ind.).

Douglas would come around to score on an RBI single by Dylan Ecken to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Cleveland State added another run in the fourth before VU looked to swing the momentum back to their side after singles by sophomore Carter Whitehead (Huntingburg, Ind.) and Brody Fessel were followed by a two out, two RBI double by sophomore Jack Robinson (Mooresville, Ind.) to cut the Cleveland State lead to 5-4.

This would be as close as the Blazers would get unfortunately as VU went down in order in the seventh to close out the 5-4 win for the Cougars.

Sophomore Logan Medsker (Marshall, Ill.) got the ball to start game two of the day, throwing three innings, allowing four runs on four hits and striking out four.

Freshman Alex Wandersee (Centerville, Ind.) was the first out of the pen for VU in game two, throwing two innings and allowing one run on three hits and striking out three.

Freshman Yancey Edlin (Pekin, Ind.) saw his first action on the mound in a VU uniform in the sixth inning, retiring the only two batters he faced before turning it over to freshman Noah Dearmitt (Franklin, Ind.) who struck out the last batter of the inning.

The series finale at Cleveland State scheduled for tomorrow has been officially cancelled due to rain in the forecast.

The next game for your VU Trailblazers will be Friday, Feb. 16 when Vincennes opens up the home schedule at Jerry Blemker Field against Frontier Community College from Fairfield, Ill. First pitch next Friday is set for 3 p.m. eastern.

Scheduled dates and times for all VU baseball games are subject to change. Be sure to follow 'Vincennes University Athletics' on Facebook, X, or Instagram to stay up to date on any and all VU baseball schedule changes.

BOX SCORE

GAME ONE

VU (1-1) – 210    000   0 – 3

Cleveland State – 111   041   x – 8

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Heyerly. HR – Ecken. RBI – Hinton 2, Ecken. HBP – Schlotterbeck. SB – Hinton 2, Griffy, Clifton.

GAME TWO

VU (1-2) – 011    002   0 – 4

Cleveland State – 220   100   x – 5

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Robinson. RBI – Robinson 2, Fessel, Ecken. HBP – Whitehead. SB – Douglas.