CARTERVILLE, Ill. – The Vincennes University baseball team has opened their 2024 regular season with six straight games against NJCAA Division I opponents including Monday’s doubleheader vs. South Suburban College from South Holland, Ill.

The doubleheader was originally scheduled to take place at VU’s Jerry Blemker Field, but was moved to John A. Logan College in Carterville, Ill. Saturday morning due to the snow in Vincennes on Friday.

The Trailblazer bats took a little bit to get going and VU ultimately dropped the doubleheader to the Bulldogs 10-0 and 9-4.

Vincennes got off to a slow start offensively, with a first inning walk by redshirt freshman Holden Clifton (Louisville, Ill.) and a hit by pitch by sophomore Blake Heyerly (Monroe, Ind.) being the only VU action on the base paths until the fifth inning.

South Suburban got on the board first in a big way in the third inning, scoring five runs before adding five more runs in the fourth to take a 10-0 lead over the Blazers.

VU looked to get some action going offensively in the fifth and drew back to back walks by freshman Jaydon Bradbury (Terre Haute, Ind.) and sophomore Jack Robinson (Mooresville, Ind.) but were unable to push a run across and extend the game as the Bulldogs took game one of the day 10-0 over Vincennes.

Freshman Kaleb Marrs (Terre Haute, Ind.) got his first collegiate start on the mound and looked to be rolling early, retiring the first three batters in order and striking out the first batter he faced.

Marrs would last two and two-thirds innings, allowing five runs on four hits and striking out five.

Freshman Alex Wandersee (Centerville, Ind.) was the first out of the bullpen for the Trailblazers, throwing an inning of work, allowing five runs on four hits and striking out one.

Freshman Colten Okes (Evansville, Ind.) entered to get the final out of the fourth inning, retiring the only batter he faced on just three pitches.

The Trailblazers looked to bounce back quickly in game two but quickly fell behind after the Bulldogs plated a run in the first and one in the third to take an early 2-0 lead.

South Suburban looked to gain full control of the game in the fourth, putting together another five run inning to extend the lead to 7-0.

VU would get on the board in the bottom of the fourth however, following a leadoff walk by freshman Nate Montgomery (Lexington, Ind.) and a single by sophomore Bryan Kohlmeyer (Paris, Ill.).

Montgomery later scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to 7-1.

The Bulldogs answered back in the fifth with a pair of runs, which the Blazers got back in the sixth after four singles by Montgomery, sophomores Trevor Newman (Fort Wayne, Ind.), Brandon Juarez (Evansville, Ind.) and freshman Corbin Napier (Indianapolis, Ind.).

Juarez and Napier’s being RBI singles by driving in Montgomery and Newman to cut the Bulldog lead to 9-3.

The Trailblazers looked to see if they could put together some late inning magic and got off to a great start in the seventh with a leadoff double by freshman Bradyn Douglas (Frankton, Ind.), followed by an RBI single by Jack Robinson.

The VU offense stalled however after a single by sophomore Kade Hinton (Fort Wayne, Ind.) as Vincennes dropped game two to South Suburban 9-4.

Sophomore Josh McCormick (Indianapolis, Ind.) got the start in game two, throwing three and one-third innings, allowing seven runs on six hits and striking out four.

Sophomore Max Lines (Indianapolis, Ind.) came out of the bullpen to throw an inning and one-third, allowing two runs on one hit and striking out one.

Freshman JD Bowser (Mt. Carmel, Ill.) also threw an inning and one-third, allowing one hit and striking out one.

Freshmen Yancey Edlin (Pekin, Ind.), Noah Dearmitt (Franklin, Ind.) and sophomore Jace Parnin (Fort Wayne, Ind.) then combined to strike out the side in the seventh inning, Edlin’s and Parnin’s strikeouts coming on just four pitches.

The Trailblazers will have another opportunity to bounce back this coming weekend when VU returns to Jerry Blemker Field for a busy weekend of baseball in Vincennes.

VU will begin the weekend by taking on Morton College from Cicero, Ill. Friday, Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. eastern.

The Trailblazers will then return to Jerry Blemker Field Saturday, Feb. 24 for a split doubleheader against Olney Central College at 1:30 p.m. and NJCAA Division III No. 7-ranked Joliet Junior College at 6:30 p.m. eastern.

The weekend will conclude on Sunday, Feb. 25 with the Trailblazers taking on an opponent to be determined at 1:30 p.m. eastern.

Scheduled dates and times for all VU baseball games are subject to change. Be sure to follow ‘Vincennes University Athletics’ on Facebook, X, or Instagram to stay up to date on any and all VU baseball schedule changes.

Pelham, Ala.:  Despite trailing by multiple goals twice, the Thunderbolts rallied to tie in the third period before dealing the Bulls only their 4^th loss on home ice all season, as Evansville defeated Birmingham 5-4 in a shootout in Pelham on Monday afternoon.   The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Saturday, February 24^th against the Peoria Rivermen, puck drop at 7:00pm CT.

Mark Zhukov scored only 38 seconds into the game to give Evansville the first lead, assisted by Benjamin Lindberg and Matt Dorsey.  Birmingham managed to score twice later in the period, as Carson Rose scored at 14:24 and Drake Glover at 19:30 to put the Bulls ahead 2-1 through one period.  Josh Harris scored to give the Bulls a 3-1 lead 3:04 into the second period, before a blast from Jordan Spadafore made it one-goal game again, assisted by Dorsey and Zhukov at 6:59.  On their first power play, Birmingham took a 4-2 lead as Joe Colatarci scored at 16:21.  The Thunderbolts comeback began at 17:52 of the second period, as a Matthew Hobbs breakaway was stopped, but the rebound put in by Brady Lynn, with Bruno Kreisz also picking up an assist to make it a 4-3 Evansville deficit.

It took only 1:05 into the third period for Evansville to tie the game at 4-4, with Myles Abbate scoring from Dmitry Yushkevich and Dorsey.  The game remained tied, although Evansville outshot the Bulls 16-10 and nearly took the lead multiple times.  Between the second and third periods, Brendahn Brawley was replaced with Ty Taylor, who did not allow a single goal in the third period.  In overtime, the Thunderbolts came closest to winning, with Yushkevich hitting the post with just over a minute remaining.  In the shootout, Nikita Kozyrev scored first in round one for Birmingham to give them a 1-0 lead, before Brady Lynn tied the shootout in the top of round two.  Lincoln Hatten scored in round four to put Evansville ahead 2-1, but Carson Rose tied the shootout at the bottom of round five to keep the shootout going.  Nikita Kozyrev appeared to win the game for Birmingham in round six, however the goal was immediately waived off as Taylor had gotten a slight piece of the puck while Kozyrev stickhandled, counting as a save.  In round eight, Hatten scored again, while Taylor denied Kozyrev again to win the shootout and game for Evansville, 3-2 and 5-4 respectively.

  Zhukov scored one goal and one assist, Abbate, Lynn, Spadafore and Hatten finished with one goal each, with Lynn adding a shootout goal and Hatten with two shootout goals including the winning goal, and Dorsey finished with three assists.  In goal, Brendahn Brawley stopped 22 of 26 shots faced before being swapped for Ty Taylor between the second and third periods, with Taylor stopping all 14 shots in the third period and overtime, along with 6 of 8 shootout attempts for his 1^st win of the season.  The Thunderbolts and Bulls meet again on Friday, April 5^th at Ford Center.