It was the Blinn Buccaneers’ year until it wasn’t, and sometimes, that’s just the way baseball goes.
No. 17 McLennan Community College erupted for 13 runs in the first three innings and fifth-ranked Blinn was unable to find enough pitching and offense to complete its comeback in an 18-9, seven-inning, season-ending loss at the NJCAA Division I Baseball World Series on Tuesday in Grand Junction, Colo.
“We knew it was going to be a tough day for us,” Bucs head coach Dusty Hart said. “We felt like if we got through today, maybe we’d have a chance to win out, but coming into today it was tough; we honestly didn’t even know who we were going to start on the mound until two or three hours before the game. It’s tough to be in a bullpen situation from the start against a really good team like McLennan. It just wasn’t in the cards for us this year, but I’m proud of the way we fought.”
Blinn went 2-2 in the tournament and finished its season with an outstanding 48-15 record. Blinn was in the World Series for a third consecutive season after finishing fourth in 2023 and winning its first national championship last season.
It’s defense of its championship came to a close following a first-round loss to Lake Land College, back-to-back victories over Florida SouthWestern State College and Johnson County Community College, and Tuesday’s setback to the Highlanders.
Despite the early exit, Blinn had a memorable run highlighted by a record-setting performance from catcher/designated hitter . The sophomore began the Series by going 6 for 6 in the opening round to tie the tournament’s single-game record for hits. He went on to finish 14 for 20 in the Series (.700), setting the record for highest batting average in the competition’s 68-year history. The previous record of .688 was held by four players, most notably 2001 Major League Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Kirby Puckett.
Tuesday’s game opened with a pair of Blinn runs in the top of the first frame, driven in on sophomore Bennett Fryman’s sacrifice fly and an RBI single from Gonzalez.
McLennan answered with two runs in its half of the inning, and tacked on six more in the second.
The Bucs got one back in the top of the third when freshman Brady Sullivan drew a bases loaded walk.
The Highlanders then put up a five spot in the bottom of the frame.
Trailing 13-3, Blinn staged a middle-innings rally with two runs in the fourth inning, three in the fifth, and one in the sixth, but McLennan answered with five tallies in the home half of the sixth.
Sophomore Ryder McDaniel hit a two-run homer for Blinn in the fourth, Gonzalez led off the fifth with a solo shot, and freshman Trey Craig hit a pinch-hit, two-run blast later in the fifth to make it 13-8. Blinn got one more on a Sullivan RBI single in the sixth.
The Bucs matched the Highlanders with 16 hits.
Gonzalez and McDaniel each went 3 for 5 with two RBIs. Sullivan and sophomores Caden Ferraro and Matt Quintanar each had two hits.
On the mound, freshman Hudson Melaerts started the game for Blinn and took the loss following 1 1/3 innings of work.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 53 national championships since 1987.
