TYLER, Texas — The Blinn College baseball team fell to Navarro College, 4-1, in the NJCAA Region XIV-North Baseball Championship Tournament opener at Irwin Field on Friday.
With the loss, the Buccaneers are now 21-21 overall. Next, Blinn will compete in the consolation bracket on Saturday, May 8, at 10 a.m. against Bossier Parish Community College or Wharton County Junior College.
“I thought Colten Drake did a great job of pitching through some innings and getting us into the sixth inning, and our hitters took great swings and barreled numerous outs,” head coach Harvey McIntyre said. “We had scoring chances in the second through fourth innings to grab a lead, but couldn’t punch through. We are in good shape on the mound going into tomorrow’s game with Evan Aschenbeck starting on the bump.”
The Buccaneers’ pitching staff was phenomenal in a pitching duel against Navarro. Drake only surrendered three runs on three hits, while striking out seven in 5 2/3 innings. Jake Olson only allowed one run on one hit in 1 2/3 innings and Trevor Mott pitched a scoreless 2/3 inning.
Garrison Weiss, Tyler Russell, and Jack Schell each came up with one hit for the Buccaneers. Schell drove in Blinn’s only run, while Westley Schields scored it.
After one scoreless inning, Navarro landed on the board with two runs in the second inning.
Blinn scored its lone run in the top of the sixth inning to cut Navarro’s lead in half. Blinn loaded the bases as Schields and Nick Wolff each drew walks, and Caleb Schulz was hit by a pitch. Then, Schell used a sacrifice bunt for Schields to score and Blinn to gain on the Bulldogs 2-1.
The Bulldogs answered back with one run in the bottom of the sixth inning and tacked on one more in the eighth for the 4-1 win.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
