VU baseball season ends after pair of tough losses in Region tournament
NORMAL, Ill. – The Vincennes University baseball season came to an abrupt end Friday evening as the Trailblazers fell in their two games to start the 2024 NJCAA Division II Region 24 Pod A Tournament hosted by Heartland Community College in Normal, Ill. The Blazers fell to host and defending National Champion Heartland C.C. 10-9 on a walk-off sac fly, before falling to Spoon River 11-8 in the very next game. VU got off to a great start to the day in game one against Heartland Community College, opening up the scoring in the fourth with four big runs.
NORMAL, Ill. – The Vincennes University baseball season came to an abrupt end Friday evening as the Trailblazers fell in their two games to start the 2024 NJCAA Division II Region 24 Pod A Tournament hosted by Heartland Community College in Normal, Ill.
The Blazers fell to host and defending National Champion Heartland C.C. 10-9 on a walk-off sac fly, before falling to Spoon River 11-8 in the very next game.
VU got off to a great start to the day in game one against Heartland Community College, opening up the scoring in the fourth with four big runs.
Vincennes got the rally going with a double by sophomore Blake Heyerly (Monroe, Ind.), followed by three straight singles by sophomore Trevor Newman (Fort Wayne, Ind.), freshman Nate Montgomery (Lexington, Ind.) and sophomore Kade Hinton (Fort Wayne, Ind.), Montgomery's and Hinton's singles driving in runs.
VU would add on with a run scoring groundout put in play by redshirt freshman Holden Clifton (Louisville, Ill.) before capping off the inning with an RBI double by sophomore Jace Parnin (Fort Wayne, Ind.) to put the Blazers on top 4-0.
Heartland immediately answered back on the home turf, scoring five runs in the bottom of the inning to take their first lead of the game at 5-4.
The Trailblazers would get back on top in the sixth with the help of three straight doubles by Hinton, Clifton and Parnin and an RBI single by sophomore Carter Whitehead (Huntingburg, Ind.) to regain the lead for VU at 7-5.
Vincennes would tack on two more runs in the seventh after a leadoff double by freshman Bradyn Douglas (Frankton, Ind.) and Blake Heyerly being hit by pitch for the second time in the game.
Douglas would come around to score on a sacrifice fly by Nate Montgomery, while Heyerly would be driven in on an RBI single by Kade Hinton to put the Blazers ahead 9-5.
Heartland again struck back with a big inning of their own in the bottom of the seventh, rallying back to even the score at 9-9 heading into the late innings of the game.
VU continued to battle, including getting a leadoff double by Blake Heyerly in the ninth, his fifth time reaching base safely in the game, but the Blazers were unable to capitalize and retake the lead.
Heartland found a way in the end, coming away with the game one victory in walk-off fashion with a sacrifice fly to give the Hawks the 10-9 victory and send the Blazers immediately into an elimination game against Spoon River College.
Sophomore Max Lines (Indianapolis, Ind.) got the start for the Blazers in game one and did his job, pitching two shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out one.
Freshman Bryce Gross (Bridgeport, Ill.) gave the Blazers some big momentum innings in the middle of the game, going two and two-thirds innings without allowing a hit and striking out two.
Sophomore Josh McCormick (Indianapolis, Ind.) was called on to get the Blazers out of a jam in the seventh and held on to pitch the final two and two-thirds innings of the game, allowing one run on four hits and striking out three.
"Our guys battled," VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. "It was a hard fought game and we had strategy on the mound to maybe trip them up and it almost worked. Game one was a tough loss. We had some guys step up. Lines, Gross and McCormick were all really good for us on the mound."
VU had to shake off this tough loss and come back strong in a potential elimination game vs. Spoon River College.
Vincennes again grabbed the early momentum, scoring in the second after Blake Heyerly was hit by pitch, followed by a successful sacrifice bunt by Trevor Newman, a single by Nate Montgomery and a successful double steal, which allowed Heyerly to score the first run of the game.
Spoon River responded in the bottom of the second, scoring three runs to take the early lead at 3-1.
VU would get a run back in the third after sophomore Jack Robinson (Mooresville, Ind.) reached on an error and was driven in by an RBI single by Trevor Newman.
After Spoon River scored a run in the bottom of the third, VU struck back in the 5th to regain the lead with a single by Robinson, an RBI single by Blake Heyerly, another single by Trevor Newman and a big two-out two-RBI double by Nate Montgomery gave the Blazers a 5-4 lead.
The later innings were not so kind to the Trailblazers as Spoon River regain the lead with two runs in the sixth and added on with three runs in the seventh and two runs in the eighth to take an 11-5 lead going into the ninth.
The Trailblazers again refused to give up going into the ninth, with Jack Robinson drawing a two-out walk to keep the inning going, followed by a pinch hit walk by sophomore Bryan Kohlmeyer (Paris, Ill.), which helped set up a big three-run home run by Blake Heyerly, his sixth of the season.
This momentum swing was short lived however as Spoon River closed out the game to pick up the 11-8 victory and end VU's season.
Freshman Carson Allen (Louisville, Ky.) got the start on the mound in game two, throwing five and one-third innings, allowing six runs on 10 hits and striking out four.
Freshman Kaleb Marrs (Terre Haute, Ind.) pitched the remaining two and two-thirds innings, allowing five runs on five hits and striking out three.
The 2024 Vincennes University baseball season comes to an end with the Blazers holding a final record of 13-44 and a 5-29 record in Mid-West Athletic Conference (MWAC) play.
"Carson Allen kept us in the game and we battled," Barney added. "Just gave up a couple of crooked numbers. We've got to do a better job down the road of not giving up crooked numbers."
"Hats off to this ball club," Barney said. "Really tough season for us. But they battled and stayed together. We've got a lot of guys graduating off of this team and those are a great, great bunch of guys."
BOX SCORE
GAME ONE
VU (13-43, 5-28) – 000 403 200 – 9
Heartland – 000 500 401 – 10
VINCENNES HITTING
2B – Heyerly 2, Parnin 2, Douglas, Clifton, Hinton. RBI – Montgomery 2, Hinton 2, Clifton 2, Parnin 2, Whitehead. HBP – Heyerly 2. Sac Fly – Montgomery. SB – Parnin, Montgomery, Newman.
GAME TWO
VU (13-44, 5-29) – 011 030 003 – 8
Spoon River – 031 002 32x – 11
VINCENNES HITTING
2B – Montgomery. HR – Heyerly. RBI – Heyerly 4, Montgomery 2, Newman. HBP – Heyerly, Parnin. SB – Heyerly, Robinson, Montgomery. Sac Bunt – Newman.