Trailblazers sweep final home doubleheader over Danville Area C.C.

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University baseball team closed down their 2025 Spring home schedule Friday afternoon with a Mid-West Athletic Conference doubleheader against Danville Area Community College at Jerry Blemker Field.

The Blazers were able to close out the home schedule in style, sweeping the doubleheader over the Jaguars by taking game one 4-2 and finishing with a 6-4 victory in game two.

The day got off to a slow start for both offenses as both team's starting pitchers were dealing on the mound, holding a scoreless tie through five innings.

Danville Area broke the scoreless tie with a run in the sixth, which VU answered with a big four-run inning in the bottom of the sixth.

VU got the inning started with a leadoff walk by freshman Jevan Andrews (Hobart, Ind.), followed by a single by sophomore Nate Montgomery (Lexington, Ind.).

Vincennes grabbed their first lead of the day on a two-RBI double by freshman Carter Gricius (Scottsburg, Ind.), who later came around to score on a throwing error by the Jaguars on a single by sophomore Corbin Napier (Indianapolis, Ind.)

Napier would later score the fourth VU run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by freshman Evan Doran (Indianapolis, Ind.), giving Vincennes a 4-1 lead.

Danville looked to battle back but were only able to get a run in the eighth as the Trailblazers held the Jaguar offense at bay all game to come away with the 4-2 game one victory.

Sophomore Carson Allen (Louisville, Ky.) got the start in game one for the Trailblazers, finishing his day with six strong innings, allowing one run on six hits and striking out four in the game.

Allen was going early, retiring 12 of the first 14 batters he faced, including striking out the side in order in the second inning.

Allen then turned the game over to freshman Ty Stultz (Terre Haute, Ind.) who threw one and one-third innings allowing one run on one hit and striking out two.

Freshman Jacob Allen (Vincennes, Ind.) came in for the Blazers to lock down the five-out save, facing the minimum over the final one and two-thirds innings to secure the Vincennes victory.

"Carson Allen did a great job," VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. "You can't say enough about him. For the first three innings he was lights out, he gave up a couple of hits late but did a great job and gave us a chance to win and we battled. They threw their number one guy out there against him and matched pitch for pitch for five innings."

"The difference for us was putting up four runs in the sixth," Barney added. "A two RBI double by Gricius, another single by Napier and a sac fly by Doran put up four runs for us. We were able to keep them to minimal damage and did a nice job of guys stepping up."

"Also can't forget about Jacob Allen coming in late and picking up another save," Barney said. "He has done a good job for us from that avenue."

The Trailblazers looked to keep this momentum going into game two and were able to get the offense going early with three big runs in the bottom of the first.

Vincennes got the inning going with back to back walks by Jevan Andrews and Nate Montgomery, followed by an RBI single by Carter Gricius.

Corbin Napier followed this with a two-RBI single to put the Trailblazers on top early 3-0.

Danville got a run back in the second, which VU immediately answered in the bottom of the second after back to back singles by sophomores Bryce Gross (Bridgeport, Ill.) and Bradyn Douglas (Frankton, Ind.).

Gross would come around to score on a sacrifice fly by Jevan Andrews to put the Vincennes lead back at three, leading 4-1 after two innings.

The Jaguars would strike again with a run in the fourth, which Vincennes was able to respond with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth.

VU opened the inning with a single by freshman Wyatt Burris (Farmland, Ind.), his second hit of the game and an RBI triple by Bryce Gross.

Gross would later score on an RBI groundout put in play by Bradyn Douglas to increase the Blazers lead to 6-2.

Danville once again looked to comeback against the Trailblazers but were only able to cut the deficit in half with two runs in the fifth before the Blazers closed out the game strong to pick up the 6-4 victory on the home regular season finale.

Sophomore JD Bowser (Mt. Carmel, Ill.) got the start in game two for the Trailblazers, throwing four-plus innings, allowing four runs, three earned on six hits and striking out one.

Freshman Eastin Whaley (Kokomo, Ind.) was the first out of the pen for the Blazers in game two, throwing one inning, allowing two hits and striking out one.

Freshman Jakob Hoyer (Georgetown, Ind.) entered the game in the sixth and came through strong, retiring all six batters he faced, including striking out one to pick up the six-out save.

"We started out early in game two," Barney said. "JD Bowser gave us a chance and picks up the win. Three runs in the first with an RBI by Gricius and two RBIs by Napier. We took advantage of a mistake by them and a sac fly by Andrews to score Gross in the second inning. Then a triple by Gross to score Burris who had a single in the fifth, so a really good team win."

"Bowser threw well," Barney added. "Whaley came in and got us out of a jam and then Hoyer came in and got us out of another jam to finish out the game."

The Trailblazers will look to keep the momentum going as the series now shifts to Danville, Ill. for the final two games of this four-game weekend MWAC Conference series and the final two games of the 2025 Spring regular season.

The regular season finale doubleheader is scheduled to take place tomorrow, Saturday, May 3 at Danville Area Community College. First pitch tomorrow is scheduled for 11 a.m. eastern.

The Trailblazers officially clinch a berth in the Mid-West Athletic Conference tournament with game one's victory and will look to continue to improve their seeding in the regular season finale.

"We're just playing well," Barney said. "Now we've got to go on the road and it's a challenge to play on the road. That's what we are going to have to do during tournament time. Let's play well in the final two games of the regular season and get ourselves ready for the conference tournament."

BOX SCORE

GAME ONE

Danville Area – 000   001   010 – 2

VU (22-29, 10-19) – 000   004   00x – 4

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Gricius. RBI – Gricius 2, Doran. Sac Fly – Doran. SB – Doran, Edlin.

GAME TWO

Danville Area – 010   120   0 – 4

VU (23-29, 11-19) – 310   200   x – 6

VINCENNES HITTING

3B – Gross. RBI – Napier 2, Douglas, Andrews, Gricius, Gross. HBP – Andrews. Sac Fly – Andrews. SB – Andrews 2.