The fifth-ranked Blinn College baseball team completed a four-game and season sweep of Region XIV South foe Galveston College on Friday in Galveston, Texas.
The Buccaneers defeated the Whitecaps 6-0 and 13-6 to claim both ends of a series-ending twin bill.
Blinn (35-10, 23-5 South) went 7-0 against Galveston this season while out-scoring the Whitecaps 76-24. More importantly, while the first-place Bucs added to tallies to the South standings win column, second-place San Jacinto College-North split its Friday
doubleheader with Alvin Community College to push Blinn’s lead to three games.
The Bucs are looking to win the South and host the Region XIV South Regional Tournament for a third consecutive year. Blinn has eight regular-season games remaining, including seven South matchups.
“Getting two wins today was big for us,” Blinn head coach Dusty Hart said. “We really don’t want the players looking that far ahead, but we as coaches certainly keep an eye on those things. It’s important for us to continue to play good baseball because as
long as we do what we need to do, we really don’t have to worry about what happens with anyone else.”
The Bucs got their day started on a positive note as sophomore pitcher continued his stellar season with a gem against Galveston.
The right-hander stitched together five scoreless frames of five-hit ball while striking out three and walking two. He improved to 8-2 on the year and lowered his earned run average to 2.04.
“I thought Brok just threw strikes like he always does,” Hart said. “He just fills up the strike zone, competes, and never gives in. When he’s landing his slider and his curveball like he did today, he can be a tough matchup for anybody.”
Eddy was backed by an early offensive outburst that saw Blinn open the scoring in the first inning before pushing its lead to 5-0 with a four-run second frame.
Sophomore Lane Allen got the Bucs on the board with a sacrifice fly. One inning later, a pair of Galveston defensive errors with the bases loaded allowed all three baserunners as well as the batter, freshman Seth Sloan, to score.
The Bucs tacked on a run in the fifth when Allen came home on an error.
Blinn finished with six hits, led by two hits apiece for sophomores Caden Ferraro and Ryder McDaniel. Sloan was credited with two runs batted in.
“I was really proud of how we won that game,” Hart said. “The wind was blowing in at a big ballpark, so we had to figure out ways to score that didn’t include home runs. That is a sign of maturity; good teams figure out ways to win regardless of the circumstances.”
Freshman pitcher Matt Taylor entered in the bottom of the sixth inning and shut down the Whitecaps. He tossed two hitless innings with one walk and one punchout.
Blinn’s circumstances changed early in game two as Galveston touched up Bucs starting pitcher Hayden Morris for four runs in the first two innings.
Whitecaps starter Trent Barnes blanked Blinn for 3 1/2 innings, but the Bucs’ lineup finally broke through with a two-spot in the fifth.
Allen drove in his team’s first run on an RBI groundout, and a run-scoring error led to another run to make it 4-2.
In the sixth, Ferraro singled in a run before freshman Benji Berrera scored on a wild pitch to force a tie. Sophomore Bennett Fryman then laced a go-ahead two-run single to right field to put the Bucs ahead 6-4.
Galveston got within 6-5 in the bottom of the sixth, but Blinn answered immediately on a Berrera sac fly in the seventh.
A solo home run accounted for the Whitecaps’ final run in the home half of the seventh.
In the top of the eighth, an RBI fielder’s choice off the bat of Blinn freshman Drew Britton along with an error on the same sequence scored two runs, and an RBI single from Berrera, a two-run base hit from freshman Reece Lunsford, and a Ferraro RBI single
closed out the scoring.
Ferraro, Lunsford, Berrera, and sophomore Ethan Gonzalez finished with two hits apiece to fuel the Bucs’ 10-hit effort. Ferraro, Lunsford, Fryman, and Berrera each collected two RBIs. Blinn also drew 14 walks.
Morris improved to 7-0 despite the rough start to his day. He settled in after the second inning to throw three scoreless frames and ended his outing after allowing five earned runs on five hits with five walks and five strikeouts.
Freshman Hudson Melaerts worked two innings of two-hit relief in which he allowed an earned run while fanning four and walking one, and sophomore reliever Hunter Bond closed things out with two scoreless frames of two-hit ball. He punched out three.
“Hayden settled in, and our offense stayed patient,” Hart said. “Putting up those zeros after the rough start was big for Hayden and allowed us to stay in the ballgame. Then you turn to Hudson and Hunter … you feel good going to those two guys any day of the
week against anybody. They pitched well and allowed our offense to take over the game.”
Up next, Blinn takes a one-game break from South play when it hosts Region XIV North competitor Navarro College at 2 p.m. on Monday, April 21, at Leroy Dreyer Field in Brenham, Texas.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 53 national championships since 1987.
