BRENHAM, Texas – Blinn College baseball had plenty of offense and held a lead in both games but was unable to hold Galveston College and dropped both games by the score of 9-6 and 11-9 Saturday afternoon at Leroy Dreyer Field in Brenham.
“I thought our players competed and didn’t go away,” said Blinn head coach Harvey McIntyre. We gave up a lot of runs with two strikes and you can’t do that.”
The pair of losses lowers the record of the Buccaneers to 18-20 overall and 8-16 in the Region XIV South Zone standings.
Galveston 9 – Blinn 6
Blinn was able to take a 6-5 lead after an RBI single by Austen Swift but that would be the final run scored as Galveston added four more runs to take the first game 9-6.
Angel De La Fuente had a big game to open the day as he brought in three runs on a home run and added a double. Swift had an RBI single and Walker Winders added a double in the loss.
Galveston started fast by scoring single runs in the first and third and adding three runs in the second to jump out to a 5-0 lead. Blinn helped to shrink that lead when Winders started the bottom of the third with a double and later scored on an error to get within 5-1.
De La Fuente brought the game much closer with a three-run home run blasted to left to get Blinn within 5-4 after three.
Blinn went after the lead in the fifth when Elijah MacNamee walked with two outs and later came around to score on a passed ball to tie the game at 5-5. Swift gave the Buccaneers a 6-5 lead with a single sliced to right to score De La Fuente. Unfortunately, that would be the final run scored by Blinn as Galveston tied the game with one in the sixth and scored three in the seventh to win the first game 9-6.
Galveston 11 – Blinn 9
Blinn held a lead in the second game as well as the Buccaneers led 7-3 after six innings but Galveston battled back to steal away an 11-9 victory to complete the sweep.
Trent Murphy hit a pair of home runs and brought in three while George Pappas added on solo shot. MacNamee, De La Fuente and Sam McElreath each had an RBI in the loss for Blinn.
Blinn started out fast in the second inning when McElreath led off with a double and Murphy followed with a home run to left for a 2-0 lead. Galveston would come back to tie the game with a single run in the fourth and fifth innings.
The Buccaneers got the lead right back in the bottom of the fifth when Pappas nailed a solo home run to left for a 3-2 lead. McElreath also brought in a run in the inning with a single through the right side of the infield for a 4-2 lead. Galveston got one back in the sixth to get within 4-3.
Blinn took advantage of some errors in the bottom of the sixth as Winders and Jay Anderson both scored on an error to extend the lead to 6-3. MacNamee added an additional run with a single roped to center for a 7-3 advantage. That Blinn lead disappeared in the seventh with four runs from Galveston to knot the game at 7-7. Galveston then took a 9-7 lead with a pair of runs in the eighth.
The Buccaneers did get within one run when Patrick King singled with one out and then came in to score on a double down the left field line by De La Fuente to get within 9-8. Galveston did add two insurance runs in the ninth to increase its lead to 11-8. Murphy began the bottom of the ninth with a solo home run but that would be it for the Blinn offense in the 11-9 loss.
Blinn will back home on Thursday, April 14 for a doubleheader against Alvin Community College starting at 4 p.m.
The doubleheader against Galveston was an Adam’s Angels Ministry fundraiser game in which Blinn raises money and awareness for Adam’s Angels. Adam’s Angels Ministry is called to provide care and comfort for families that are in a battle against childhood cancer. The fundraising effort is part of Blinn’s annual Adopt-a-Charity program in which all Blinn athletic programs dedicate a portion of their gate proceeds towards a charity. For more information on Adam’s Angel’s Ministry visit www.adamsangelsministry.org.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 32 NJCAA national championships since 1987. For more information, visit www.buccaneersports.com.