Gricius series finale walk off gives Vincennes series split

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University baseball team closed out their Mid-West Athletic Conference weekend series Saturday morning against Lewis & Clark Community College in the annual 'Battle of the Trailblazers'.

The day did not get off to a great start for VU with Lewis & Clark taking game one 10-4 before Vincennes closed out the weekend strong with a big 11-1 victory in game two.

Lewis & Clark opened the morning in game one of the day plating one run in the first to take an early 1-0 lead over VU.

Vincennes would respond and get on the scoreboard in the second after a single by sophomore Damon Kay (Spencer, Ind.) and an RBI double by freshman Carter Gricius (Scottsburg, Ind.).

Gricius would move up to third on a passed ball and later score on a groundout put in play by sophomore Yancey Edlin (Pekin, Ind.) to give the Blazers their first lead of the day at 2-1.

Lewis & Clark would even the score back at 2-2 with a run in the third and take the lead back with three runs in the fourth to hold a 5-2 edge.

Lewis & Clark broke the game open in the sixth with five runs to increase their lead to 10-2.

Vincennes would continue to battle late in game one, getting a lead off solo home run by Carter Gricius in the sixth and back-to-back doubles by freshman Jevan Andrews (Hobart, Ind.) and sophomore Nate Montgomery (Lexington, Ind.) in the seventh.

This would be as close as the Blazers would get however as Lewis & Clark closed out the 10-4 victory in game one of Saturday's doubleheader.

Sophomore Colton Okes (Evansville, Ind.) got the start on the mound for Vincennes in game one of the day, throwing three-plus innings, allowing three runs, one earned on two hits and striking out one.

Freshman Jacob Allen (Vincennes, Ind.) was the first out of the pen for Vincennes, allowing two runs on one hit in one-third of an inning.

Sophomore Bryce Gross (Bridgeport, Ill.) pitched two and two-thirds innings of relief for VU, allowing five runs on six hits and striking out three.

Freshman Kyle Holder (Mount Vernon, Ind.) pitched the seventh inning for the Trailblazers, allowing two hits in an inning on the mound.

"Colton Okes gave us a chance," VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. "We've got to swing better earlier in the game. I did something that I haven't asked Bryce Gross to do all year which is throw 40 to 50 pitches for us and I left him in there thinking we've got a chance and they caught up to it. I'm going to wear that one but we've still got to play better all the way around, defensively and offensively when we get a chance to do that."

The Trailblazers looked to bounce back and close out the weekend strong in game two of the day and were able to break the game open early with a monster seven-run second inning.

VU got the inning started with a lead off walk by Carter Gricius. Bryce Gross followed him by reaching on a fielder's choice and Vincennes got on the board with an RBI single by Yancey Edlin.

Gross came around to score the second run of the inning on a double steal with Edlin before Edlin scored on an RBI single by freshman Evan Doran (Indianapolis, Ind.).

Sophomore Bradyn Douglas (Frankton, Ind.) kept the inning going with an RBI single, with Doran coming around to score on a fielding error to put the Blazers ahead 5-0.

Carter Gricius would cap off the Vincennes scoring in the inning with a big two-RBI single to give the Trailblazers an early 7-0 lead over Lewis & Clark.

Lewis & Clark would get a run on the board in the fourth, with Vincennes immediately responded in a big way in the bottom of the fourth.

VU opened the fourth inning with back-to-back singles by Nate Montgomery and Carter Gricius, before sophomore Corbin Napier (Indianapolis, Ind.) launched a big three-run home run, his first of the season and second home run of his VU career, to move the Vincennes lead to 10-1.

After holding Lewis & Clark scoreless in the fifth the Trailblazers came to bat needing one run to end the game early.

Bradyn Douglas led off the inning with a walk and later moved into scoring position with a stolen base.

Carter Gricius kept his hot bat going, coming through for the Trailblazers with a two-out walk-off RBI double to end the game and give Vincennes the 11-1 series finale victory over Lewis & Clark.

In the two games combined Saturday, Gricius was an outstanding five for six at the plate, with two doubles, a home run, five RBIs and four runs scored.

VU's game two starter, freshman Grayson Reichert (Shepherdsville, Ky.) also had a big day on the mound, throwing a five inning complete game, allowing one unearned run on just one hit and striking out two.

Reichert was very efficient on the mound right from the start, retiring nine of the first 10 batters he faced on just 28 pitches in the first three innings, going through three innings without allowing a hit.

"It all starts on the mound today with Grayson Reichert," Barney added. "I thought guys had some big games at the plate. Carter Gricius had three RBIs and the walk off RBI. Obviously Napier hits a three run home run. RBIs by Edlin and Doran. Doran barreled one up and went two for three and an RBI by Douglas. So some things went really well swinging the bats all the way through. It was multiple guys stepping up and doing things for us. That's what it's going to take for us to be successful as we continue to play through the conference schedule."

The Trailblazers will look to keep this positive momentum going as VU gets set to hit the road next week to face Olney Central College Wednesday, March 19 at 3 p.m. eastern in Olney, Ill.

VU will then be on the road Saturday, March 22 for the first two games of their weekend MWAC series with Parkland College in Champaign, Ill. First pitch Saturday is set for 1 p.m. eastern.

The series will then shift to Jerry Blemker Field in Vincennes for the final two games of the weekend slate Sunday, March 23 with first pitch Sunday scheduled for 1 p.m. eastern.

"Hopefully we can start putting consecutive better games back to back instead of playing really well in one and struggling in another," Barney said. "Our pitchers have got to learn how to step up, throw shut down innings after we score and obviously our hitters have to put hits together back to back to back and push some runs across to make it a little bit easier for us."

"We had some opportunities on the weekend to do some things and missed," Barney added. "In the games that we won, we didn't miss on those opportunities. We were able to take advantage of a lot of mistakes and guys really stepped up."

BOX SCORE

GAME ONE

Lewis & Clark – 101   305   0 – 10

VU (9-12, 1-6) – 020   001   1 – 4

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Andrews 2, Gricius, Montgomery. HR – Gricius. RBI – Gricius 2, Montgomery, Edlin. HBP – Johnson.

GAME TWO

Lewis & Clark – 000   10 – 1

VU (10-12, 2-6) – 070   31 – 11

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Gricius. HR – Napier. RBI – Gricius 3, Napier 3, Edlin, Doran, Douglas. HBP – Fessel, Napier, Montgomery. SB – Douglas, Gross, Montgomery, Edlin.