Trailblazers pick up tough, resilient win over Conference foe Danville Area

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazers closed out their four-game weekend Mid-West Athletic Conference (MWAC) series with Danville Area Sunday afternoon with a grueling 7-6 win, which saw the Trailblazers use 17 players throughout the game.

The Jaguars took game one of the day 7-5 before Vincennes closed out the weekend with the 7-6 game two victory.

The first game of the day saw Vincennes grab an early lead, with sophomore Colin Long (Evansville, Ind.) getting a single in the first inning and would later score on a balk to give the Blazers the early 1-0 lead.

Danville Area responded quickly with four runs in the top of the second to grab the lead.

VU would cut the deficit in the third after freshmen Mahkai Pelzer (Douglasville, Ga.) and Kaden Elliott (New Albany, Ind.) reached on errors and scored on a two-RBI single by Long to cut the DACC lead to 4-3.

Danville Area would increase their lead back with a run in the fourth and a run in the fifth.

Vincennes would get one run back in the sixth after sophomore Connor VanLannen (Clinton, Ind.) led off the inning with a walk and scored on a wild pitch to make it a 6-4 game.

After the Jaguars picked up an insurance run in the 7th, Vincennes looked to complete the comeback in the final frame.

Colin Long led off the seventh with his third single of the game and would be driven in on a two-out RBI single by VanLannen.

The Trailblazers were unable to cut the deficit any further as Danville Area picked up the 7-5 win over Vincennes.

Sophomore Kestler Harbuck (Brooksville, Fla.) got the start on the mound for VU in game one of the day and lasted three and two-thirds innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and striking out three.

Sophomore Braedon Nichols (Sullivan, Ind.) was the first man out of the pen, throwing two and two-thirds innings, allowing two runs on four hits and striking out one.

Freshman Eli Steimel entered to get the final two outs of the seventh inning without damage.

Game two did not begin in the Trailblazers favor as freshman starter Kobe Bartlett (Rockport, Ind.) was forced to leave the game due to injury in the first inning after throwing just 16 pitches.

The Trailblazers looked to regroup after giving up an early run in the first and got a big spark off the bat of Colin Long who launched a solo home run, his second of the year, in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game at 1-1.

Vincennes would take the lead in the second after a leadoff double by Connor VanLannen and an RBI double by freshman Jordan Roth (Delphi, Ind.).

VU would add to this lead in the third with a pair of RBI singles by sophomores Peyton Lane (New Paris, Ohio) and VanLannen to take a 4-1 lead.

Danville Area would begin inching their way back with a run in the fourth and a run in the sixth, before Jordan Roth hit a triple in the sixth and came in to score on a wild pitch to make it a 5-3 game.

Danville Area tied the game with a pair of runs in the seventh, which was answered quickly by an RBI single by sophomore Dale Coy (Evansville, Ind.).

The Jaguars would again tie the game in the eighth before freshman Colton Evans (Henderson, Ky.) drove in what would be the winning run in the bottom of the eight with an RBI single.

Danville Area would get runners on first and third in the ninth but were unable to tie the game for the third straight inning as sophomore Camden Greer (Boonville, Ind.) recorded the final two outs of the game via strikeout to give Vincennes the 7-6 MWAC Conference win.

Kobe Bartlett exited the game in the first inning due to an injury after throwing one pitch to the fourth batter of the game. Bartlett recorded two outs and allowed one run on one hit.

Vincennes got a major boost from the bullpen out of sophomore Luke Osborn (Perrysville, Ind.) who lasted three innings, allowing one run on three hits and striking out three.

Freshman Caleb Moore (Wentzville, Mo.) was next out of the pen, throwing an inning and a third, allowing one run on two hits and striking out two.

Camden Greer picked up the win Sunday after throwing the final three and two-thirds innings in relief, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out five batters in the process.

"My hats off to our guys today, it was a team effort," VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. "Our guys battled. I can't say enough about Camden Greer, finishing out the final three-plus innings. We had some guys step up at the plate too. Jordan Roth hit three for three with a walk. Dale Coy got a big RBI and Colton Evans obviously coming through with the game-winning RBI, plus Colin Long's home run in the first inning."

"At the end of the game, I told our guys, because I don't think they noticed this, but we had seven freshmen playing at the end of the game," Barney added. "We had a sophomore center fielder and a sophomore pitcher with seven freshmen because of different pinch running situations or injuries. But our guys battled and my hats off to them getting one out of the four games this weekend and now we've got to get ready for the rest of the week ahead. The good news is we have our Conference bye coming up, so we have a few games over the weekend and two early the next week to hopefully get ready to go up to Heartland the following weekend."

"Guys have to be able to step up like they did today because you just never know," Barney said. "Peyton Lane goes out in the second game in concussion protocol and we had to put Pelzer in at shortstop. Or in the seventh inning when we need to pinch run with two outs when we were looking to push a couple runs across, it's just lots of little things like that. We also did a great job of bunting in the second game. Executed on a hit and run, so our guys did a pretty good job offensively and obviously we played pretty good defense today as well."

Vincennes will look to get healthy and get back on track this coming week when VU travels to take on Oakland City University Wednesday, April 6. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. eastern.

The Trailblazers will also take on Frontier Community College in a two-game home-and-home series over the weekend, with VU hosting the Bobcats Friday, April 8 at 6 p.m. eastern before traveling to Fairfield, Ill. Saturday, April 9. First pitch Saturday is set for 7 p.m. eastern.

"Hopefully we just get better on the mound," Barney said about the upcoming stretch of games. "Hopefully we continue to do what we've done offensively and continue to play good defense. If we can do those things and get our pitching figured out a little bit better, we should be in good shape. But we've got to get some guys back and just continue to play and get ourselves ready to go for the following weekend of Conference play."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

GAME ONE

Danville Area – 040   110   1 – 7

VU (12-15, 5-6) – 102   001   1 – 5

VINCENNES HITTING

RBI – Long 2, VanLannen.

GAME TWO

Danville Area – 100   101   210 – 6

VU (13-15, 6-6) – 112   001   11x – 7

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – VanLannen 2, Roth. 3B – Roth. HR – Long. RBI – Long, Lane, Evans, VanLannen, Coy, Roth. SB – Burdette, Long.