Big innings doom Trailblazers against Top-10 opponents Friday

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer baseball team hosted a pair of Top-10-ranked teams at Jerry Blemker Field Friday afternoon for the first of a two-day series between the three teams.

Vincennes fell in the first game of the day to NJCAA Division-I No. 7 Wabash Valley 16-0 in five innings and fell 16-7 to NJCAA Division-II No. 6-ranked Kellogg Community College in the afternoon game.

Wabash Valley wasted little time getting on the scoreboard in the first game of the day, as the leadoff hitter got on base with a single and came around to score on a fielding error later in the inning, giving the Warriors a 1-0 lead.

The Warriors did most of their damage in the middle innings of the game however, scoring five runs in the second, six runs in the third and four runs in the fourth to take a commanding 16-0 lead heading into the fifth.

Vincennes had a tough time getting baserunners against Wabash Valley’s starting pitching with sophomore Peyton Lane (New Paris, Ohio) being the only VU batter to reach base through the four innings on a fielding error and a hit by pitch.

VU’s first hit of the game came in the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff single by freshman Kaden Elliott (New Albany, Ind.).

The Trailblazers were unable to bring this runner around to score however as the game ended after five innings with the final score of 16-0.

Sophomore Kestler Harbuck (Brooksville, Fla.) took the mound in the first game of the day and threw 2.1 innings, giving up 10 runs on seven hits and striking out two.

Sophomore Ryan Bartley (Tuscola, Ill.) pitched 0.2 innings in relief, giving up five runs on two hits and striking out one.

Sophomore Camden Greer (Boonville, Ind.) pitched in the fourth inning, giving up one run on one hit and striking out one.

Freshman Cauy Motsinger (Salem, Ind.) took the mound in the fifth to and gave up one hit and struck out the final two batters he faced.

Vincennes looked to shake off this tough start to the day when facing No. 6 Kellogg CC in the final game of the day Friday.

The Bruins were the first team on the board, scoring in the first after a leadoff double came around to give Kellogg an early 1-0 lead.

Vincennes answered back in the bottom of the first to even the score after sophomore Colin Long (Evansville, Ind.) scored after reaching base by an error.

Kellogg regained the lead with a run in the second and looked to gain full control of the game with a massive, nine-run inning in the fourth to take an 11-1 lead.

The Trailblazers would chip away at the big lead with a leadoff single by freshman Colton Evans (Henderson, Ky.), followed by a two-run home run by sophomore Conner VanLannen (Clinton, Ind.).

Vincennes would add two more runs in the fifth before Kellogg would plate three runs in the sixth to grow their lead back to 15-5.

Needing a run to extend the game, VanLannen hit a two out RBI double to drive home Colin Long to extend the game to the seventh inning.

“Conner has been doing well all year at the plate,” VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. “He’s had some bad luck, but he’s been hitting the ball hard and today he got a few to fall in. Obviously it’s hard to catch it when he hits it over the fence but he also did a good job of hitting a double down the line later to get another RBI.”

“He’s been doing it all year for us and hopefully he can step up on the mound tomorrow in game one against Kellogg,” Barney added.