FRANKLIN, Ind. – The Vincennes University baseball team snapped their losing streak Wednesday afternoon on the road in a midweek showdown with Franklin College JV.
VU took advantage of two seven run innings to come away on top by the final score 14-5.
Vincennes broke open the scoring in a big way in the second inning at Franklin JV with freshman Nate Montgomery (Lexington, Ind.) leading off the inning with a single and coming around to score from first on an RBI double by sophomore Bryan Kohlmeyer (Paris, Ill.).
It then felt like the flood gates had opened for the Trailblazers offense, as Kohlmeyer was driven in on an RBI double by freshman Logan Edwards (Corydon, Ind.), who was later driven in on an RBI double by sophomore Carter Whitehead (Huntingburg, Ind.).
Vincennes continued to add on with an RBI single by freshman Bradyn Douglas (Frankton, Ind.), followed by Whitehead scoring on a wild pitch and freshman Bryce Gross (Bridgeport, Ill.) scoring on a groundout by freshman Corbin Napier (Indianapolis, Ind.).
Nate Montgomery would grab at bat for the second time in the inning and came through with his second single of the inning, this time driving in Bradyn Douglas to give the Blazers an early 7-0 lead.
The Grizzlies slowly chipped away at this VU lead, as both teams were running multiple pitchers to the mound to get a nice midweek tune up.
Franklin JV would score in the third and fourth innings and pick up a pair of runs in the seventh to cut the VU lead down to 7-4.
The Trailblazers looked to widen the margin in the later innings and looked to have a good shot in the ninth after freshman Noble Johnson (Terre Haute, Ind.) reached after being hit by pitch, sophomore Brandon Juarez (Evansville, Ind.) walked and sophomore Jace Parnin (Fort Wayne, Ind.) was hit by pitch to load the bases with only one out.
Freshman Brody Fessel (DePauw, Ind.) would clear the bases with an RBI single, which would roll to the wall after a fielding error by Franklin JV, allowing Juarez and Parnin to score to increase VU's lead to 10-4.
The Trailblazers were not done there however, freshman Reed Drabant (Columbia, Ill.) and Cater Whitehead each drew a walk to reload the bases for sophomore Keegan Schlotterbeck (Centerville, ind.) to draw a bases loaded walk to drive in a run.
Freshman Canaan Miller (Indianapolis, Ind.) was able to pick up an RBI on a sacrifice fly and Whitehead scoring on a successful double steal with Schlotterbeck.
Schlotterbeck would come around to score VU's seventh run of the inning after Corbin Napier reached on a dropped third strike, giving the Blazers a commanding 14-4 lead.
Franklin JV managed to push a run across in the bottom of the ninth but were unable to further cut into the Trailblazers lead as VU closed out the victory, 14-5.
"We played well today," VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. "I don't think we had many errors today. You look at the free bases allowed, aside from a couple of hit batsmen and three walks by Gross, our pitchers only allowed three walks in the game. Our guys took advantage of their mistakes and when they put a couple guys on, we were able to knock some guys in."
"Bryan Kohlmeyer got us going in the second inning," Barney added. "Montgomery got it all started with a single and scored on an RBI double to break it open and we piled it on in the second and ninth innings."
"Hopefully this is a confidence booster for us," Barney said. "That we can come up with big hits in key situations, something we have struggled with all year and obviously got it done today. We took advantage of their mistakes and then came up with some key hits in those two big innings. Hopefully that serves as a confidence booster for our guys and we can start to come up with some timely and big hits in key situations in games."
Sophomore Josh McCormick (Indianapolis, Ind.) got the start on the mound for VU, throwing his scheduled two innings, allowing one hit and striking out two on his way to picking up his third winning decision of the season.
Sophomore Max Lines (Indianapolis, Ind.) was the first out of the pen, throwing two innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on two hits and striking out two.
Freshman Colton Okes (Evansville, Ind.) pitched the next two innings, allowing one hit and striking out two, while only facing seven batters.
Freshman Bryce Gross (Bridgeport, Ill.) saw some time on the mound, allowing two runs on two hits in two thirds of an inning before turning the game over to freshman JD Bowser (Mt. Carmel, Ill.)
Bowser came in to get the Blazers out of a jam in the seventh and did so very efficiently, only needing one pitch.
Bowser would throw the remaining two and one third innings of the game, allowing one run on one hit and striking out two to pick up his first collegiate save.
"Guys threw strikes," Barney said. "McCormick threw well. Max Lines threw okay. Colton Okes threw well. Got himself into trouble but was able to work himself out of it. Gross got into a little trouble and then obviously JD Bowser closing it out for the last two and a third innings. He threw really well also."
The Blazers will look to keep this momentum going when they return to Mid-West Athletic Conference play this weekend at Spoon River College in Canton, Ill.
VU will take on the Snappers Saturday, April 20 at 1 p.m. eastern and Sunday, April 21 at 1 p.m. eastern.
"A, you established that you can win," Barney said. "B, now you've got to go out and do it again and we've got a great opportunity this weekend to hopefully pick up three or four wins against a team that is very similar to us in the standings. Hopefully we can start to feel good about ourselves as we head into the last few weeks of the regular season and be playing really well come tournament time."
BOX SCORE
VU (12-30, 4-16) – 070 000 007 – 14
Franklin JV – 001 100 201 – 5
VINCENNES HITTING
2B – Kohlmeyer, Whitehead, Edwards. RBI – Whitehead, Schlotterbeck, Douglas, Miller, Napier, Montgomery, Kohlmeyer, Edwards, Fessel. HBP – Johnson 2, Ecken, Parnin, Edwards. Sac Fly – Miller. SB – Schlotterbeck 2, Johnson 2, Douglas, Gross, Whitehead, Edwards, Drabant.