(Pictured: Blinn College’s Evan Aschenbeck)
The victory opened a twin bill between the two teams, but the nightcap was suspended due to darkness with the Buccaneers leading 8-5 in the bottom of the sixth inning. The game will resume at 2 p.m. Monday at Fireman’s Park in Brenham, followed by a 4 p.m. game to conclude the four-game series.
“It was not an easy day to play and I thought they competed their tails off,” Blinn head coach Harvey McIntyre said. “They really battled through some things. If you want to talk about some adversity, that was today, but they showed up and I was proud of how they competed.”
Blinn (5-8, 2-0 Region XIV South) trailed 3-0 following the first inning after Alvin tallied two unearned runs, but the Buccaneers got going with a big fourth frame.
Freshman Cole Smajstrla hit a solo home run for his fourth long ball of the year and freshman Bo Rodgers smacked a three-run double to give the visitors a 4-3 edge. Freshmen Chase Arnaud and Dave Wilson scored in the fifth for Blinn.
Wilson finished with three hits for the Bucs and freshman Garrison Weiss and Rodgers each had two.
(Pictured: Blinn College’s Ethan Roark)
On the mound, freshman Evan Aschenbeck recovered from a rough first inning to earn his third victory of the season and improve to 3-0. He worked 5 2/3 innings and allowed three runs (one earned) on five hits with seven strikeouts and no walks.
“You have the confidence in Evan that he’s going to keep you in the ballgame because he’s just going to keep attacking the strike zone,” McIntyre said. “He again was pretty exceptional out there.”
Freshman Ethan Roark recorded the final four outs for the save.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
