BEEVILLE, Texas — The Blinn College baseball team split a doubleheader with Coastal Bend College on the road Thursday.
The Buccaneers opened the four-game conference series against the Cougars with an 8-0 win. Then, Coastal Bend bounced back to defeat the Buccaneers, 7-6, in the second game of the day.
With the split, the Buccaneers are now 17-16 overall and 11-13 in conference play.
“I thought we showed up ready to play today and our hitters did a great job with some very quality at-bats,” head coach Harvey McIntyre said. “Dylan Theut gave us another great start and Evan Aschenbeck was outstanding in his start in Game 2. Unfortunately, we didn’t piece it together in the last three innings of Game 2 and gave one away there.”
Blinn 8 – Coastal Bend 0
The Buccaneers opened the doubleheader against Coastal Bend with an 8-0 win.
Theut earned the win on the mound after striking out 12 and only allowing four hits in six innings. Eric Oakes was impressive in relief, striking out all three batters he faced in one inning.
Garrison Weiss, Jack Schell, and Caleb Schulz each scored two runs, while Westley Schields, Tyler Russell, Pretson Hoffart and Schulz each knocked in one run to lead the offense.
Blinn grabbed an early 2-0 lead as Weiss stole home in the first and Schields stole home in the second.
The Buccaneers added two runs in the third inning when Westley walked the bases loaded and Russell hit a one-run single for Blinn to lead 4-0.
Schulz’s solo home run gave Blinn a 5-0 lead in the fifth. Then, Weiss and Schell scored on an error in the sixth inning. Blinn scored its final run in the seventh inning when Hoffart hit a one-run double.
Coastal Bend 7 – Blinn 6
The Cougars bounced back with a 7-6 win to conclude the doubleheader.
Nick Wolff led the offense with three RBIs and one run, while Kam Kelton drove in two runs and scored one.
Aschenbeck started for the Buccaneers and only surrendered three runs, while striking out seven in five innings.
Coastal Bend took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but the Buccaneers scored the next six runs for a four-run advantage.
Schields scored Blinn’s first run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Wolff. Then, Kelton tied the game with a one-run double in the third. Wolff hit a two-run homer for the Buccaneers to take a 4-2 lead. Then, they extended their lead to 6-2 with two runs in the fifth inning as Kelton and Russell each hit a one-run singles.
The Cougars began their rally by scoring one run in the fifth inning and two runs in the sixth inning. They scored their final two runs in the eighth inning to take a 7-6 lead for good.
Next, Blinn will conclude the conference series against Coastal Bend with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 24, starting at 2 p.m. at Leroy Dreyer Field.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
