Free bases prove costly as VU falls to Morton to close out weekend

VINCENNES Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer baseball team closed out another busy weekend of NJCAA baseball at Jerry Blemker Field Sunday afternoon, falling to Morton College from Cicero, Ill. 13-4.

The VU pitching staff allowed six walks in the game and hit an additional five batters Sunday, which the Panthers pounced on with the help of some timely two out hitting.

Morton College got the scoring going early, breaking the game open in the second with five runs before adding another run in the fourth to increase their lead to 6-0.

Vincennes would get on the board in a big way in the bottom half of the fourth, with freshman Corbin Napier (Indianapolis, Ind.) leading off the inning with a solo home run, his first collegiate home run to cut the deficit to 6-1.

Morton then responded with a pair of runs in the sixth and five more insurance runs in the seventh to take a 13-1 lead heading into the final half inning.

The Trailblazer bats looked to come alive in the bottom of the seventh and try to pull off a miracle comeback.

The VU offense was jump started by a pinch hit leadoff double by freshman Noble Johnson (Terre Haute, Ind.) followed by a single by freshman Logan Edwards (Corydon, ind.).

The pair were then driven in on a two-RBI triple by freshman Bradyn Douglas (Frankton, ind.), who later scored on an RBI single by redshirt freshman Holden Clifton (Louisville, Ill.) to cut the Morton lead down to 13-4.

This would be as close as the Blazers would get unfortunately, as the Panthers closed out the victory to end a busy weekend of baseball at Jerry Blemker Field.

"Bradyn's swinging it well," VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. "Hopefully Holden's getting back to his old form that he had last year. Corbin Napier has shown that he has some juice in his bat with a nice home run today by him."

"Some guys stepped up in situations but it's easy to play when you're down a ton of runs," Barney added. "It's more what do you do when the horses are not out of the barn yet and it's 0-0 or a close game in that situation. So we've got to be better right from the get go."

Sophomore Max Lines (Indianapolis, Ind.) got the start on the mound for the Blazers, throwing an inning and two-thirds, allowing five runs on four hits and striking out four.

Freshman Noah Dearmitt (Franklin, Ind.) was the first out of the pen for VU, throwing two and one-third innings, allowing one run on four hits and striking out three.

Sophomore Jack Robinson (Mooresville, Ind.) took a turn on the mound, allowing two runs on one hit and striking out two in an inning and two-thirds of work.

Freshman Colton Okes (Evansville, Ind.) and sophomore Keegan Schlotterbeck (Centerville, Ind.) then combined to get the final four outs, each recording one strikeout.

"It's extremely disappointing," Barney said. "We had a starting pitcher that I thought could give us a couple of quality innings and couldn't get out of the second. Then our bullpen, again, let us down. Out of the 13 runs, seven or eight were on two out hits. It's the same stuff that has been happening all year now, so something's got to give here with our guys."

"Our pitchers have to do a better job of having command of what's going on and the zone," Barney added. "Not having mental breakdowns or mental mistakes. Now we've got to get ready and going for a mid-week game and the weekend ahead."

The Trailblazers will look to bounce back when VU hits the diamond again, heading to Oakland City University Wednesday, Feb. 28 to face off against OCU JV at 4 p.m. eastern.

This will be a lead into another busy weekend of baseball at Jerry Blemker Field, where the Blazers will again play four games in three days starting Friday, March 1 against No. 12-ranked Kellogg Community College at 6 p.m. eastern.

VU will then face Lincoln Trail College and Glen Oaks Community College Saturday, March 2 in a doubleheader before closing out the weekend against Kellogg Sunday March 3.

"We've just got to get better offensively right from the first inning on," Barney said. "Then we also have to do a better job on the mound. We've had some quality starts out of guys this weekend, so that's a positive we are going to take out of this, but our relievers have to come in and get guys out and that just didn't happen a majority of the time this weekend."

Scheduled dates and times for all VU baseball games are subject to change. Be sure to follow 'Vincennes University Athletics' on Facebook, X, or Instagram to stay up to date on any and all VU baseball schedule changes.

BOX SCORE

Morton – 050   102   5 – 13

VU (2-8) – 000   100   3 – 4

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Johnson. 3B – Douglas. HR – Napier. RBI – Douglas 2, Clifton, Napier. HBP – Napier, Clifton. SB – Douglas.