“It was a close game against a really good team on the road, and I thought our guys were ready to play and did a good job,” he said. “I thought they did really well. It’s just some of those little things you’ve got to do to win close games, but for the first time out of the gate, I thought they did really well.”
The Buccaneers finished with five hits, including first-inning solo home runs from freshmen Garrison Weiss and Chase Arnaud. Blinn led 2-0 after the first inning and tied the game 3-3 in the seventh when Tripp Cromer homered in his first at-bat as a Buccaneer.
“We started out with a bang with those two homers in the first,” McIntyre said. “We’ll start to string a few more hits together and we’ll be in good shape.”
Weatherford pushed across the game-winning run in the home half of the seventh inning.
Freshman Gage Boehm started on the mound for Blinn and worked 2 2/3 innings. He allowed three earned runs on seven hits with two strikeouts and one walk. In relief, freshman CJ Gardner tossed 3 1/3 scoreless frames. Freshman Aiden Huerta finished the ballgame with two innings of work, allowing an unearned run on one hit. He fanned two and walked one.
McIntyre was impressed with the collective effort of his pitchers Friday, adding that he was optimistic of what’s to come from his staff.
“I thought those guys really strung it together for us,” McIntyre said. “It’ll be good to get a look at the rest of our arms this weekend and today was a fantastic start.”
The Buccaneers continue their road series against Weatherford with a noon doubleheader Saturday.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
