BRENHAM, Texas – Blinn College baseball earned a little bit of revenge against Galveston College as the Buccaneers came up victorious in both scheduled games by the score 13-6 and 9-4 Feb. 21 at Leroy Dreyer Field in Brenham.
The two Blinn victories came after getting beat twice at Galveston on Feb. 19 and now the Buccaneers even out the conference record to 2-2 and 10-3 overall.
“Galveston plays well at home but we just played better today than we did the last time we face them,” said Blinn head coach Harvey McIntyre. “I wouldn’t want to say that the third and fourth conference game of the year was pivotal but it was tonight.”
In the first game, the offense let out some frustration by scoring 12 runs in the first four innings. Hunter Lehman was a big reason as he had a grand slam, double and a single to bring in four runs. Conner Smith also hit a three-run home run to help the offense. Dakota Mills picked up the win by pitching into the sixth inning and striking out five while allowing five runs.
Galveston started the scoring with a single run in the first but its lead didn’t last long as Blinn got it right back in the bottom half. With two outs in the first, Lehman ripped a double to left only to be followed with an RBI double to left by Ben Upton to tie the game. Robbie Rojas gave the Buccaneers the lead with a double to right to score Upton for a 2-1 advantage after one.
Patrick King supplied the eighth run with an RBI single to center and then Upton made the score 9-1 with a sacrifice fly to score King. Smith capped the scoring with a towering home run to right to bring in three for a 12-1 lead after four.
Galveston did score two runs in the fifth and sixth innings to get within 12-5 but Blinn was able to add a 13th run after King was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for a 13-5 lead. Galveston scored a single run in the seventh to make the final 13-6.
The second game was much closer as the score was tied 3-3 in the middle of the seventh but then Jager Toffan hit home runs in the seventh and eighth innings to bring in three of the six Buccaneer runs to help Blinn pull away for a 9-4 victory.
“Sometimes it is difficult to get ready to come off the bench but you just have to stay warm and stay focused because you never know when you are going to go into the game,” Toffan said about coming on as a pinch-hitter in the second game. “It felt good to get these two wins against Galveston.”
Kaylor Chafin pitched a solid game on the mound to help Blinn get the win going seven innings and striking out six batters.
“I took advantage of everything they were giving me and Galveston had a lot of first pitch swingers,” Chafin said. “I also took advantage of a lot of momentum going our way.”
Galveston got the scoring going in the third with a single run but Blinn came right back in the bottom half. Christian Thames started the third with a single and then later came around to score on a passed ball to knot the game at 1-1.
The momentum stayed with Blinn in the fourth as Thames hit another single, this time to score Lehman and Upton to give the Buccaneers a 3-1 lead. Galveston would fight back in the seventh inning with a pair of runs to tie the game at 3-3.
The game wasn’t tied long as Toffan came on as a pinch hitter and blasted a home run to right for a 4-3 lead. Auippa followed with a double two batters later and then scored on a wild pitch for a 5-3 lead.
The scoring continued in the eighth inning as Smith ripped an RBI single to right for a 6-3 lead and then Rojas scored the seventh run on a passed ball. Toffan wasn’t done hitting balls into the trees past the outfield wall as he connected on another home run, this time a two-run shot, to give Blinn a 9-3 lead. Galveston picked up a single run in the ninth to make the final 9-4.
Blinn will play out of conference on Feb. 24 as it will travel to face Temple College at 4 p.m.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 30 NJCAA national championships since 1987. For more information, visit www.buccaneersports.com.
