y Blemker Field, facing NJCAA Division I No. 17-ranked John A. Logan College and falling by the final score of 12-6.
VU battled throughout and held a 4-1 lead over the Volunteers heading into the sixth inning, but a pair of big innings for the Vols ultimately flipped the game.
The Trailblazers got off to a great start Friday afternoon, scoring two runs in the first after sophomore Kade Hinton (Fort Wayne, Ind.) reached on a walk and came around to score on an RBI double by redshirt freshman Holden Clifton (Louisville, Ill.).
Clifton would then be driven in on an RBI double by freshman Corbin Napier (Indianapolis, Ind.) to put the Blazers ahead 2-0 over the Volunteers.
John A. Logan would get a run back in the second, which was countered by the Blazers in the third after back-to-back singles by Hinton and Clifton, Clifton’s second hit of the day, followed by a two-RBI double by sophomore Blake Heyerly (Monroe, Ind.) to put the Blazers on top 4-1.
The VU lead would hold until the top of the sixth when John A. Logan was able to jump in front for the first time with six runs in the inning to hold a 7-4 advantage.
Vincennes would look to cut into the deficit in the eighth and attempt a late comeback with Hinton and Clifton leading off the inning with walks, Hinton’s fourth time reaching base safely and Clifton’s third on the game.
After a successful sacrifice bunt by freshman Noble Johnson (Terre Haute, Ind.) moved the runners up to second and third, Kade Hinton scored on a dropped third strike wild pitch and Clifton came in to score on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Trevor Newman (Fort Wayne, Ind.) to move the Blazers within a run heading into the final inning.
The Volunteers were able to extend their lead in the top of the ninth, after two quick outs, the Vols were able to capitalize on some defensive miscues and score five runs in the inning to increase the lead to 12-6.
The Trailblazers went down in order in the bottom half of the inning to seal the victory for John A. Logan.
“We played a lot better than we have all season,” VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. “We won seven out of the nine innings today. We were up on them going to the sixth and just a couple of crooked numbers, six runs in the sixth and a five-spot in the ninth. In the ninth, most of that came with two outs, they were able to take advantage of a couple of errors on fly balls that didn’t get caught, a couple of walks and hit batsmen and all of a sudden, they have pushed across five runs.”
“The score is not indicative of how we played,” Barney added. “There were positives that came out of today. We threw multiple guys and five out of the seven guys we put on the mound threw really well. We stepped up early in the game with some big hits to break the game open a little bit and build a 4-1 lead. We battled and were competitive with them. Just two miscues late in the game and some walks and hit batsmen in the sixth and the ninth did us in.”
Freshman Carson Allen (Louisville, Ky.) got the start on the mound for the Trailblazers and looked to be in mifor the Trailblazers and looked to be in mid-season form, throwing three innings, allowing one run on four hits without walking a single Volunteer.
