The second-ranked Blinn College baseball team fell just short of a doubleheader sweep of Region XIV South foe Coastal Bend College on Saturday in Beeville, Texas.
The Buccaneers claimed the opener 12-5 before dropping the finale 9-7. Blinn took three of four contests in the four-game series.
“I was proud of the effort to never give up, but we just made too many mistakes in game two and Coastal Bend capitalized while we didn’t,” Bucs head coach Dusty Hart said. “It was very ugly baseball on our part, and they got us. You just have to tip your cap to them and move on to the next one.”
Blinn moved to 30-8 overall and 18-3 in the South.
In game one, the Bucs and Cougars were tied 4-4 after two innings before the visitors took the lead for good in the third.
Three walks, two hit batsmen, and a fielder’s choice led to four runs for Blinn in the top of the first frame. Coastal Bend answered with four runs against Bucs starting pitcher ย in the second.
In the top of the third, sophomoreย Ryder McDaniel’sย two-run home run put Blinn ahead to stay.
Sophomoreย Matt Quintanarย added a two-run shot in the fourth.
The Bucs tacked on a run in the fifth and three in the seventh, while Coastal Bend scored one in the bottom of the seventh.
Blinn finished with eight hits, including two apiece for McDaniel and sophomoresย Lane Allenย andย Caden Ferraro.
McDaniel finished with three RBIs, followed by two apiece for Quintanar, Ferraro, and freshmanย Drew Britton.ย
Morris worked five innings for the Bucs and allowed four earned runs on eight hits. He walked four and struck out four while improving to 6-0.
In the finale, Blinn went on a furious rally in the final four innings of action, but a stellar defensive play by the Cougars cut the Bucs’ comeback short.
Coastal Bend led 9-1 heading into the sixth inning before an RBI fielder’s choice of the bat of sophomoreย Ryan Williamsย and a bases loaded walk for sophomoreย Ethan Gonzalezย got the Bucs within 9-3.
Britton’s RBI fielder’s choice made it 9-4 in the seventh.
Ferraro drove in a run on an RBI groundout in the eighth.
In the ninth, sophomoreย Bennett Frymanย scored on a wild pitch and McDaniel added an RBI double to close out the scoring.
Freshmanย Reece Lunsfordย represented the tying run with two outs, but a sharp ground ball to third base was corralled on a diving stop, and Lunsford was thrown out by a half step to end the game.
Blinn finished with three hits but kept itself in the game with 11 walks.
Quintanar hit a solo homer โ his sixth of the season โ to get the Bucs on the board in the fourth.
On the mound, freshman starting pitcherย Jack Garzaย was saddled with the loss despite allowing just one earned run (four total) across two innings. He gave up four hits, four walks, and struck out three.
Up next, the Bucs have an opportunity to build on their first-place lead in the South when they begin a three-game set with second-place San Jacinto College-North. The Ravens trail Blinn by three games.ย
The series begins at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 10, at Leroy Dreyer Field in Brenham, Texas.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 50 national championships since 1987.
