TEMPLE, Texas —The Blinn College baseball team fell on the road to No. 18 Temple College, 4-2, on Monday.
With the loss, the Buccaneers are now 12-10 overall.
“I thought Colten Drake was very good in his first start and held a very good team down for five plus innings,” head coach Harvey McIntyre said. “We found our way to get back in late, but it was not enough to go earn a win. We are just not doing enough to go earn success as of now.”
Drake started the game on the mound for the Buccaneers and only allowed two earned runs, while striking out four, in 5 2/3 innings. Patrick Hail pitched 1 1/3 innings of relief and only gave up one run on three hits. In addition, Grant Wood pitched one scoreless and hitless inning of relief for Blinn.
Tyler Russell totaled two RBIs, while AJ Mays and Garrison Weiss each scored one run, to lead Blinn’s offense.
Temple landed on the board first with one run in the third inning. Then, the Leopards scored three runs in the sixth inning to extend their lead to 4-0.
Blinn rallied for two runs in the eighth inning after loading the bases. They loaded them after Mays was hit by a pitch, Weiss hit a single, and Westley Shields drew a walk. Then, Russell hit a single to drive in two runs and cut Temple’s lead in half. Kam Kelton kept things rolling with a walk to load the bases back up, but a strikeout left the Buccaneers stranded.
In the ninth inning, Preston Hoffart and Jett Garcia each hit singles, but their rally was cut short as Temple claimed the win.
Next, the Buccaneers will host Spartan Academy in a doubleheader on Wednesday, March 31, starting at 1 p.m. at Leroy Dreyer Field.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 41 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
