Trailblazers hang tough but fall to D-I No. 17 John A. Logan

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University baseball team put on a good show Friday afternoon at Jerry 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 mid-season form, throwing three innings, allowing one run on four hits without walking a single Volunteer.

Freshman Kaleb Marrs (Terre Haute, Ind.) returned to the mound to pitch the fourth inning, allowing a pair of walks in a hitless inning of work.

Freshman Alex Wandersee (Centerville, Ind.) pitched the fifth and started the sixth inning, allowing four runs on two hits and striking out one.

Freshman Yancey Edlin (Pekin, Ind.) finished out the sixth inning, allowing two runs on two hits and striking out one.

Freshman JD Bowser (Mt. Carmel, Ill.) pitched a clean seventh inning, before turning the game over to sophomore Josh McCormick (Indianapolis, Ind.) who retired the side in order in the eighth on just eight pitches.

McCormick returned to the mound for the ninth inning and ultimately finished with a stat line of allowing five runs, one earned, on one hit and striking out two in an inning and two-thirds.

Sophomore Jace Parnin (Fort Wayne, Ind.) took to the mound after playing most of the game at shortstop to retire the final batter of the ninth inning on four pitches.

"Carson did really, really well," Barney said. "Kaleb Marrs got back on the mound for the first time in nearly three weeks. He turned it over to Alex Wandersee who threw a really good fifth inning and then struggled in the sixth. Then Yancey Edlin, who has done great all year for us, just didn't have it today and had a hard time throwing strikes."

"JD Bowser comes in and throws really well," Barney added. "Josh McCormick comes in and does really, really well. His first inning in the eighth was about as well as we've seen him throw all year, actually his first inning and two-thirds threw really well. All of a sudden, I don't know what it was, he hit a little bit of a stumbling block, gave up a walk and hit a batter and next thing I know we've got to bring in Jace and he closes it out."

"All of the pitchers today threw really well except for those two big innings where they struggled a little bit," Barney said.

The Trailblazers will return to the field after a weekend off on Wednesday, April 3 when VU travels down to Mt. Carmel to take on Wabash Valley College at 2 p.m. eastern.

Vincennes will return to their Mid-West Athletic Conference (MWAC) schedule next weekend when VU travels to Normal, Ill. to take on No. 10-ranked Heartland Community College Saturday, April 6 and Sunday April 7.

First pitch Saturday is set for 2 p.m. eastern and first pitch Sunday set for 11 a.m. eastern.

"These guys have got to enjoy a couple of days off here," Barney said. "I don't think we've had back-to-back days off since we started back up in January, so they've got a couple of days to catch their breath, see their families and get their bodies a little more healthy and then get back after it on Monday and Tuesday. Then we go down and play in Mt. Carmel on Wednesday and turn around and go play at Heartland on Saturday and Sunday."

"It's a grind and this is the meat of our schedule coming up," Barney added. "We've got Heartland, who were the National Champions last year, then you turn around and play Lincoln Land the following weekend, who has been playing really well. They have four power five arms that are starters for them and I think it's going to be a great little mix for us. We throw Volunteer State in between those two weekends with a midweek game. So the next 10 games for us are going to be a challenge and that's why you schedule these games. So hopefully we're ready to see these guys come conference time to see teams like we saw today."

BOX SCORE

John A. Logan – 010   006   005 – 12

VU (11-21, 4-8) – 202   000   020 – 6

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Heyerly, Napier, Clifton. RBI – Heyerly 3, Clifton, Napier, Newman. Sac Bunt – Johnson. Sac Fly – Newman. HBP – Parnin.