CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer baseball team closed out their four-game conference series with No. 12 Parkland in Champaign Sunday afternoon and VU came away with a two-game split after Blazer starter Sam Steimel pitched a nine-inning complete game shutout.
Parkland got on the scoreboard early in game one, scoring a run in the first inning.
Vincennes would respond by taking the lead in the third after a pair of runs gave the Blazers a 2-1 advantage.
Parkland would bounce back to even the score in the fourth and take the lead in the sixth as the Cobras went on to take the 3-2 win.
Connor VanLannen took the ball in game one and threw six complete innings, giving up two earned runs on four hits, while racking up an impressive 10 strikeouts.
Vincennes came back in game two of the day, looking to avoid the four-game sweep to nationally-ranked Parkland and took control early, pushing across a run in the first.
Vincennes would go on to add another run in the third to take a 2-0 lead and that would be all the Blazers needed as VU took the 2-0, nine-inning win.
Sam Steimel was on the mound in game two for the Blazers and like VanLannen, needed no relief as Steimel finished off nine shutout innings, giving up six hits while punching out seven.
Vincennes will look to continue this momentum next weekend when they host Illinois Central in the penultimate Mid-West Athletic Conference series Friday May 7 at Jerry Blemker Field. First pitch Friday is set for 2 p.m. eastern.
The series will then shift to East Peoria, Ill. Sunday May 9 for the final two games of the four-game set. First pitch Sunday is also set for 2 p.m. eastern.
GAME ONE
VU (17-26) 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 – 2 7 0
Parkland 1 0 0 1 0 1 x – 3 4 0
VINCENNES HITTING
RBI – Macaine Claycomb, Isaac Lane. SB – Brody Ruggles, Peyton Lane. Runs – Brody Ruggles, Trent Weiss.
GAME TWO
VU (18-26) 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 2 10 2
Parkland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 6 2
VINCENNES HITTING
2B – Trent Weiss. 3B – Trent Weiss. RBI – Macaine Claycomb, Isaac Lane. SB – Connor VanLannen, Colin Long. Runs – Trent Weiss 2.