BRENHAM, Texas — The Blinn College baseball team defeated Galveston College, 8-5, in the Region XIV Tournament play-in game on Tuesday night at Leroy Dreyer Field.
With the win, the Buccaneers improve to 21-20 overall and advance to the NJCAA Region XIV-North Baseball Championship Tournament.
“I think the most important thing was that we scored first and in a game like this it settles you down,” head coach Harvey McIntyre said. “Dylan Theut was great and Evan Aschenbeck saved the game for us. The home run that Westley Schields hit late was huge.”
Theut earned the win after striking out five and only surrendering four runs in 6 2/3 innings. Grant Wood struck out two in 2/3 of an inning, while Aschenbeck earned the save by just allowing one run on one hit in 1 2/3 innings.
“This game meant the most to us so far this season and we knew we had to go out there and win, so coming out with the win is everything to us,” Aschenbeck said. “I felt like everything was on today and that Dylan did a great job. Everything came together for us, so we are going to the tournament feeling really good.”
Garrison Weiss went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs, while Schields and Jett Garcia each drove in two runs each. Garcia led the Buccaneers with two runs, while Weiss, Schields, Ben Hovda, Kam Kelton, Nick Wolff and Caleb Schulz each scored one.
“It is very exciting to make it to regionals because this is what we play for every day,” Garcia said. “I tried to stay true to my approach and had guys in scoring position, and was able to get the job done. The staff was clutch, we had some big pieces, and Westley came up big in the end which was really important for us.”
Blinn took off with a two-run lead in the first inning when Weiss scored on an error and Hovda scored on a passed ball.
Galveston scored one run in the top of the second to cut Blinn’s lead in half. However, the Buccaneers answered back with one run when Garcia stole home in the bottom of the inning.
The Whitecaps evened the score with two runs in the fourth inning. However, the Buccaneers scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 6-3 lead for good. After Schulz and Wolff each singled, they scored on Garcia’s triple. Then, Garcia scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Weiss.
Galveston tacked on one run in the fifth inning to gain on Blinn, 6-4.
Schields hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning to extend Blinn’s lead to 8-4.
The Whitecaps added their final run in the ninth inning before falling to Blinn.
Next, the Buccaneers will face Navarro College on Friday, May 7, at 1 p.m. in the Region XIV-North Tournament in Tyler, Texas.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
