The Buccaneers won both games via the run rule, starting with an 8-0 shutout in the opener (six innings) and ending with a 19-11 victory (five innings) in a slugfest of a finale.
Blinn improved to 11-11 in the South Zone (18-29 overall) and will need to finish the regular season with two more wins to have a chance to qualify for the eight-team Region XIV Tournament (East versus South).
“These were crucial wins to keep us in the playoff hunt,” Blinn head coach Rick Church said.
Blinn finishes the regular season with a home twin bill against Galveston College beginning at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3.
The Bucs got started on Saturday with a 13-hit offensive effort which nicely complemented starting pitcher Chloe Mason’s complete-game effort.
Blinn scored three runs in the first inning and three more in the third before tacking on solo runs in the fifth and sixth frames.
A wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth allowed Keely Castillo to cross the plate and enforce the run-rule.
Chandler Talbot had three hits and two RBI for Blinn, while Castillo also had a three-hit showing. Kayla Wallace and Kendall Johnson had two hits apiece, and Acie Prince doubled in a pair of runs. Wallace also doubled and Johnson had an RBI.
(Pictured: Blinn College’s Chloee Mason pitches against Lamar State-Port Arthur)
In the pitcher’s circle, Mason struck out five and didn’t issue a walk while recording a three-hit gem.
Game two began as a tight affair as the Bucs got on the board first with a two-run first inning before the Seahawks answered with four runs in the second. Blinn’s two-spot in the home half of the second forced a 4-4 tie, but after Lamar State reclaimed the lead, 5-4, in the top of the third, Blinn quickly turned the contest into a blowout.
The Bucs racked up eight runs in the bottom of the third, starting with an error which scored Emily Kristynik. Natilee Reed singled in Teagan Whitley and Kenley Strange to give Blinn the lead for good, and Talbot smacked a double to plate Johnson.
A Wallace RBI groundout sent Reed to the plate, and Talbot later scored on a Castillo sacrifice fly. Whitley later singled on a ground ball to drive in Prince, and Kristynik finished the big inning with a run on a wild pitch.
Lamar State rallied in the top of the fourth, scoring six times to make it a 12-11 ballgame, but the Bucs got back to work in the bottom of the frame.
Blinn tacked on seven more runs, highlighted by Kristynik’s two run homer (scoring Prince) and a two-run shot from Strange (scoring Whitley) to cap the offensive outburst.
The Bucs finished with 16 hits, including three apiece for Kristynik, Prince, and Whitley. Castillo finished with two hits and four RBI, Kristynik drove in three runs, and Wallace, strange and Reed had two RBI apiece.
Kaitlyn Sadler earned the pitching victory for Blinn with one inning of relief.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
