VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer baseball team has hit a small skid in their season and the losing streak continued Friday afternoon at Jerry Blemker Field as VU fell to MWAC opponent John Wood 5-1 and 13-2.
Game one of the day began as a matchup of two top pitchers as the game remained scoreless after three innings.
VU starter Gehrig Tenhumberg made it through the first three innings without giving up a hit.
John Wood broke the scoreless tie in the fourth, plating a pair of runs to take a 2-0 lead.
John Wood would add to their lead in the seventh, after a two-run single grew the lead to 4-0.
VU got some offense going in the bottom of the seventh as Devon Rodgers hit a two out triple and later scored on a wild pitch to cut the lead to three runs.
John Wood would get that run back in the eighth to take a 5-1 lead that would hold as the game one final score.
Tenhumberg lasted six and a third innings, giving up four runs on seven hits, while coming away a pair of strike outs.
Cody Swimm pitched an inning and two thirds in relief and gave up a run while striking out one.
Luke Osborn pitched a clean ninth inning, finishing off one punch out in the outing.
Game two started much like game one did, with the two starting hurlers holding the opposing batters at bay with two scoreless innings each.
John Wood got on the scoreboard first in the third after an RBI double, followed by a three-run double gave John Wood a 5-0 lead.
John Wood added to their lead in the fourth, capping off a four-run inning with a two-run home run.
Vincennes managed to cut into the lead in the bottom of the fourth, when Isaac Lane led off the inning with a single, followed by a single from Max Flock.
Lane and Flock would later score on a two-RBI single by Ryne Wheeler as the Trailblazers still faced a 9-2 deficit.
John Wood would answer back with four more runs in the fifth, growing the lead to 13-2.
"John Wood came out ready to hit today, we didn't and they did a much better job on the mound today than we did," VU baseball coach Chris Barney said. "That's my fault. I'll take the blame for this because it obviously starts at the top and for whatever reason our bats have gone completely silent these last two weeks. We are struggling with that and our pitchers are trying to make great pitches, instead of just doing what they're capable of. Our hitters have to give our pitchers a little bit of breathing room and it just hasn't happened the last couple of weekends."
Cooper Thacker took the ball to start game two. Thacker threw two and a third innings, giving up four runs on three hits and three strikeouts.
The Trailblazers called on Braedon Nichols to finish the third and fourth innings. Nichols gave up five runs on five hits. Nichols recorded strikeouts on three of his five outs.
Vincennes sent Tanner Pittman, Bailey Elliott and Parker Watts to the mound in the fifth inning.
"Gehrig has thrown it well all year and did a great job, he kept us in the game and gave us an opportunity to win," Barney added. "Cooper has been solid the last two outings prior to this and the wheels just came off in the third. It's uncanny how it just happened. John Wood took advantage of a walk and a hit and before you know it we've given up four runs. It's just one of those things where they're not going to be perfect every day out but you hope that we can keep it to minimal damage and today we couldn't do it."
This four-game MWAC conference series will conclude Sunday, April 25 as VU hits the road to take on John Wood at Quincy, Ill. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. eastern.
"We've got to get more out of our starting pitching and our hitting has to come around. Our hitting has to step up and swing it like they did the first five or six weeks of the season. If it does that then we'll be fine. We've got to play good defense and today we were alright on that but we have to do a better job offensively to give ourselves a little breathing room for our pitchers so they don't feel like they have to make the perfect pitch every time."
GAME ONE
John Wood – 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 1 0 – 5 8 1
VU (16-21) – 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 – 1 4 0
VINCENNES HITTING
3B – Devon Rodgers. Run – Devon Rodgers.
GAME TWO
John Wood – 0 0 5 4 4 – 13 11 0
VU (16-22) – 0 0 0 2 0 – 2 6 0
VINCENNES HITTING
Runs – Isaac Lane, Max Flock. SB – Colin Long.
