VanLannen’s big day on the mound earn Blazers doubleheader split with Illinois Central

VINCENNES, Ind. – Vincennes University game one starter sophomore Connor VanLannen (Clinton, Ind.) pitched a gem of a game Friday afternoon, pitching four and two-thirds innings of no-hit baseball to help Vincennes earn a Mid-West Athletic Conference (MWAC) doubleheader split, taking game one 11-3 and dropping game two 5-4.

Vincennes got the scoring started early in game one of the day, with leadoff hitter freshman Ethan Burdette (Linton, Ind.) reaching on a bunt single and advancing to second on a throwing error.

Burdette would later score the first run of the game on a double steal attempt.

VU would grow their lead in the second with Burdette driving in freshman Kaden Elliott (New Albany, Ind.) on a fielder's choice and Dale Coy came through with an RBI double in the third as VU held a 3-0 lead.

The scoring picked up for Vincennes with the Trailblazers scoring two runs per inning throughout the middle innings with freshman Will Egger (Terre Haute, Ind.) hitting an RBI triple in the fourth and Elliott scoring two on a two-RBI double in the sixth as Vincennes built a commanding 9-0 lead.

The Cougars would get on the scoreboard in the seventh, scoring three and cutting the deficit to six, before Vincennes answered back with an RBI double by Connor VanLannen and a walk-off RBI single by Elliott to give the Blazers the run-rule win 11-3 in seven innings.

Connor VanLannen took the mound in game one and looked to get himself back on track in a big way, throwing six and one-third innings, allowing three runs on three hits and striking out seven.

VanLannen made it two times around the Illinois Central batting order before the Cougars could record their first hit of the game with two outs in the fifth inning.

Freshman Caleb Moore (Wentzville, Mo.) entered the game from the bullpen to record the final two outs of the seventh inning, allowing one hit and striking out one in the process.

Vincennes had six batters record multiple hits in game one, with freshman Colton Evans (Henderson, Ky.), Connor VanLannen and Kaden Elliott each recording three hits, with Evans and VanLannen hitting a pair of doubles.

Kaden Elliott picked up a three for five day at the dish, with three RBI's and two runs scored in game one.

"Connor VanLannen did a great job for us, along with the lower half of the order in the first game," VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. "We had multiple hits from the guys five through nine in the order. Overall game one was just a good day."

Vincennes looked to carry this momentum into the second game of the day and the Trailblazers were again the first team to score, this time with a big two-run home run by freshman Mahkai Pelzer (Douglasville, Ga.) in the second inning.

The two teams traded runs in the third, with Colton Evans scoring for the Trailblazers on a balk, as Vincennes held a 3-1 lead.

Illinois Central would even the game with a run in the fourth and a run in the fifth and battled all the way back to take the lead with a two-run home run of their own in the seventh to take a 5-3 lead.

Vincennes came to bat in the bottom of the inning, looking for their third-straight walk-off win and began the inning strong with back-to-back doubles by sophomore Peyton Lane (New Paris, Ohio) and Colton Evans, followed by an RBI single by Connor VanLannen.

Illinois Central intentionally walked freshman Jordan Roth (Delphi, Ind.) to load the bases with one out for the Blazers.

Vincennes was unable to get the tying run across however as the Cougars struck out the final two batters of the game to take game two 5-4 and even the four-game conference series at 1-1.

Sophomore Kestler Harbuck (Brooksville, Fla.) got the start in game two and threw four and two-thirds, allowing three runs on four hits and striking out seven.

Sophomore Braedon Nichols (Sullivan, Ind.) was the first out of the bullpen in game two and threw an inning and two-thirds allowing two runs on two hits and punching out two.

Sophomore Luke Osborn (Perrysville, Ind.) recorded the final two outs of the seventh inning, allowing one hit and striking out one.

VU got a four-hit game out of Colton Evans in game two, giving him an impressive seven hits on the day, including three doubles.

Connor VanLannen also added three more hits to his total in game two and an RBI.

"Game two we gave them a ton of free bases and made a few errors," Barney said. "Our pitchers have to do a better job on the mound and obviously our hitters as well. We had multiple opportunities from the second inning on to score more runs and just didn't do it, including striking out three times in the seventh inning. That just can't happen. We've got to be able to put the ball in play at this level and that was the difference in the game."

"Mahkai did a great job in game two," Barney added. "We had a guy get on ahead of him and Mahkai stepped up with the big two-out two-run home run to put us up. We had our opportunities to score and put up some crooked numbers on the scoreboard and just didn't come up with some timely hitting and that's the difference in game two, because they did."

The Trailblazers will look to pick up the series win when VU takes on Illinois Central tomorrow, Saturday, April 23 at Jerry Blemker Field for the final two games of the four-game series. First pitch tomorrow is set for 1 p.m. eastern.

"We'll look to be better tomorrow," Barney said. "We've got two games. The good news is that we've got the tiebreaker on Illinois Central. So we feel good about where we're at, it's just a matter of coming out and playing tomorrow and getting ourselves ready to play."

"We've got to get some quality pitching tomorrow and timely hitting," Barney said. "Plus we have to play really good defense. It's the same stuff we talk about all year. We got back to that in our mid-week game this week with Lincoln Trail, obviously did that in game one today and have to do that in games three and four tomorrow."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

GAME ONE

Illinois Central – 000   000   3 – 3

VU (17-21, 7-10) – 111   222   2 – 11

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Evans 2, VanLannen 2, Elliott, Coy, Sizemore. 3B – Egger. RBI – Burdette, VanLannen, Coy, Elliott 3, Sizemore, Egger. SB – Burdette 2.

GAME TWO

Illinois Central – 001   110   2 – 5

VU (17-22, 7-11) – 021   000   1 – 4

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Burdette, Evans, Lane. HR – Pelzer. RBI – VanLannen, Pelzer 2. HBP – Coy. SB – Evans, VanLannen.