GALVESTON, Texas — Although the Blinn College and Temple College baseball teams each had nine hits, the Leopards managed to come out on top, 5-1, to conclude the Galveston Tournament on Saturday afternoon.
With the loss, the Buccaneers now hold a 4-1 overall record.
“All in all, we won 2 out of 3 and had good weekend,” head coach Harvey McIntyre said. “We learned a lot about our group, and I thought our team competed their tails off. Their guy on the mound did a great job, and we had to create our own chances offensively and came up short.”
Nick Wolff went 3-for-4 to lead the offense and score Blinn’s only run, Garrison Weiss had two hits in the game, and Jett Garcia drove in the only run for the Buccaneers.
Jace Hutchins started the game for the Buccaneers and struck out six in 4 1/3 innings. He surrendered four runs and seven hits. Colten Drake surrendered just one run and two hits in 2 1/3 innings, while Grant Wood pitched 2 1/3 hitless innings.”
“I thought Jace got better as he went, and Colten settled in and finished well,” McIntyre said. “Grant Wood gave us a chance with some late zeroes in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings.”
Temple started off strong and built a 5-0 lead in five innings of play. The Leopards scored one run in each of the second and fourth innings, and three runs in the fifth inning.
After three scoreless innings, Blinn rallied for one run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Wolff led off the inning with a single and moved to second after Preston Hoffart was hit by a pitch. Following two outs, Garcia singled to right field for Wolff to score the final run of the game.
Blinn will return to Leroy Dreyer Field for the Buccaneers’ home opener on Friday, Feb. 12. The Buccaneers will face Howard College in a doubleheader, starting at 2 p.m.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 41 NJCAA national championships since 1987. For more information, visit www.buccaneersports.com.
