PEORIA, Ill. – Coming off one of their best offensive series in years the Vincennes University baseball team ran into some excellent pitching at Illinois Central College Sunday as the Cougars came away with the doubleheader sweep winning game one 13-2 and taking game two 11-0.
The day got off to a very slow start for the Trailblazers, with Illinois Central getting on the board early and often in game one, putting up four runs in the first and seven runs in the second inning.
VU would get on the board in the fourth with three of the first four batters of the inning reaching base with singles and sophomore Colin Long (Evansville, Ind.) driving in a run on a ground out and sophomore Dale Coy (Evansville, Ind.) coming through with an RBI single to cut the ICC lead to 11-2.
The Cougars would get those two runs back in the bottom of the inning and with the Blazers needing two runs to extend the game, freshman Kade Hinton (Fort Wayne, Ind.) led off the fifth with a single and later moved over to second on a Colton Evans (Henderson, Ky.) walk, but VU was unable to push a run across as ICC came away with the game one win 13-2.
Freshman Gavin Craggs (Taylorville, Ill.) got the start on the mound for the Trailblazers in game one, throwing an inning and a third, allowing seven runs on four hits and striking out two.
Freshman Bryton Griffy (Louisville, Ill.) entered to pick up the final two outs of the second inning without surrendering a run or a hit.
Freshman Max Lines (Indianapolis, Ind.) looked to really settle things down on the mound, throwing two full innings, allowing two runs on two hits and striking out two.
Vincennes looked to bounce back in game two of the day and were able to load the bases in the top of the first, but were unable to get a run in the opening inning.
VU game two starter freshman Josh McCormick (Indianapolis, Ind.) held his own in the early stages, throwing a one-two-three bottom of the first to get the VU batters another shot to score.
After Vincennes was sent down in order as well, the Cougars broke the early tie with a run in the second and three runs in the third to take a 4-0 lead after three.
The Blazers were able to get a runner in scoring position in the fifth and load the bases in the sixth but again were unable to get a run in.
Illinois Central picked up an insurance run in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead before coming back in the sixth to score six runs and pick up the win with a walk-off grand slam to close out game two and complete the doubleheader sweep by the final score of 11-0.
Josh McCormick held his own throughout most of the game, pitching into the sixth and allowing six runs on 10 hits and striking out three.
The Blazers will look to bounce back again tomorrow when VU returns to ICC for the third and fourth games of this Mid-West Athletic Conference (MWAC) series.
Game one of the day tomorrow is set to begin at 2 p.m. eastern, with freshman Jace Parnin (Fort Wayne, Ind.) getting the ball on the mound for VU. Sophomore Jake Stuteville (Rockport, Ind.) will start the series finale for the Blazers.
BOX SCORE
GAME ONE
VU (14-12, 4-1) – 000 20 – 2
Illinois Central – 470 2x – 13
VINCENNES HITTING
2B – Evans. RBI – Long, Coy. BB – Burdette, Evans.
GAME TWO
VU (14-13, 4-2) – 000 000 – 0
Illinois Central – 013 016 – 11
VINCENNES HITTING
1B – Evans, Whitehead, Hinton.