Big innings drop Blazers against No. 6 Heartland C.C.

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University baseball team returned to Jerry Blemker Field Thursday evening for the opening two games of their four-game Mid-West Athletic Conference series against No. 6-ranked Heartland Community College from Normal, Ill.

The Blazers were unable to avoid the big innings as the highly rated Hawks came away with the two game sweep, taking game one 13-1 and game two 11-3.

Vincennes had to play from behind early in game one after Heartland opened the scoring with a run in the first.

VU was able to keep the Hawk lead at one until Heartland broke the game open in the fourth with six runs before adding six more runs in the fifth to take a 13-0 lead.

The Blazers looked to complete a comeback in the bottom of the fifth to extend the game, getting the inning going with a four-pitch walk by sophomore Yancey Edlin (Pekin, Ind.).

Edlin would come around to score on a two-out RBI double by freshman Evan Doran (Indianapolis, Ind.) to get the Blazers on the scoreboard.

Unfortunately, VU was unable to keep the inning going and fell to the Hawks in game one of the day 13-1.

Sophomore JD Bowser (Mt. Carmel, Ill.) got the start on the mound in game one for the Trailblazers, working very efficiently early before running into a tough fourth inning on the mound.

Bowser closed out his day throwing three and two-thirds innings, allowing seven runs on nine hits and striking out one.

VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney then turned the game over to freshman Jakob Hoyer (Georgetown, Ind.) for the final one and one-third innings, where Hoyer allowed six runs on seven hits and also struck out one.

Vincennes looked to bounce back in game two and were able to gain the early advantage in the first after a single by freshman Jevan Andrews (Hobart, Ind.).

Andrews advanced on a stolen base and a wild pitch to set up a sacrifice fly by sophomore Nate Montgomery (Lexington, Ind.) to give VU the early 1-0 lead.

Heartland would answer back later in the game with a pair of runs in the third and fourth innings to take a 4-1 lead, before breaking the game open with four runs in the fifth to increase their lead to 8-1.

The Hawks continued to add to their lead late with three more runs in the seventh to take an 11-1 lead.

The Trailblazers again came to the plate in the seventh looking for a late comeback and were able to gain some momentum with a single by Evan Doran, followed by a big two-run home run by sophomore Bryce Gross (Bridgeport, Ill.), his fourth home run of the season.

This would be as close as the Blazers would get unfortunately though as Heartland closed out game two to pick up the 11-3 win.

Sophomore Carson Allen (Louisville, Ky.) got the start for the Blazers in game two, throwing four and one-third innings, allowing seven runs, four earned runs on 11 hits and striking out one.

Freshman Jacob Allen (Vincennes, Ind.) was the first out of the bullpen in game two, throwing one and two-thirds innings, allowing one run on one hit.

The Trailblazers will look to bounce back and hopefully come away with the series split as VU gets set for the final two games of this conference series tomorrow, April 18. First pitch tomorrow is set for 12 p.m. eastern.

BOX SCORE

GAME ONE

Heartland – 100   66 – 13

VU (16-25, 6-15) – 000   01 – 1

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Doran, Andrews. RBI – Doran.

GAME TWO

Heartland – 002   240   3 – 11

VU (16-26, 6-16) – 100   000   2 – 3

VINCENNES HITTING

HR – Gross. RBI – Gross 2, Montgomery. Sac Fly – Montgomery. Sac Bunt – Douglas. SB – Douglas, Fessel, Andrews.