Fielding errors doom Trailblazers in road matchup at Lincoln Trail

ROBINSON, Ill. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer baseball team took a short trip north to Robinson for another mid-week showdown with the Statesmen Tuesday afternoon.

Vincennes gave up one big inning to host Lincoln Trail, where three fielding errors led to a big six-run inning for the Statesmen.

VU attempted a comeback but ultimately fell short as Lincoln Trail came away with the 12-7 win.

The Statesmen came into the game looking for some revenge against the Blazers after VU picked up the 5-4 win in 10 innings April 19 at Jerry Blemker Field.

Lincoln Trail got started early, scoring a run in each of the first two innings to grab the early 2-0 advantage.

Lincoln Trail grabbed control of the game in the bottom of the third, when the Statesmen scored six runs on three hits in the inning, while VU surrendered three errors and walked one batter.

Vincennes looked to close the gap in the fourth, with sophomore Peyton Lane (New Paris, Ohio) and freshman Colton Evans (Henderson, Ky.) leading off the inning with back-to-back doubles.

Evans would come around to score later in the inning on a ground out to cut the deficit to 8-2.

LTC grew their lead back with a pair of runs in the fourth and a run in the fifth before Vincennes scored again in the seventh.

Sophomore Josiah Sizemore (Cambridge City, Ind.) hit a double and scored on a wild pitch. Freshman Mahkai Pelzer (Douglasville, Ga.) reached on an error and would score on an RBI single by freshman Will Egger (Terre Haute, Ind.)

The Statesmen responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the seventh to take a 12-4 lead.

VU looked to mount a massive late comeback in the ninth, with Pelzer, Egger and sophomore Colin Long (Evansville, Ind.) leading off the inning with three-straight singles.

Colton Evans would drive in a run on an RBI single and freshman Nick Kapostasy (Cincinnati, Ohio) followed him with a sacrifice fly to cut the margin to five.

This would be as close as VU would get though as the comeback attempt fell short with Lincoln Trail picking up the 12-7 win on their home field.

"You give up a big inning and give up six runs, four of them unearned and it's hard to overcome those crooked numbers," VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. "Our guys battled back. We got ourselves back into the game. But we've got to do a better job right from the start and not allow so many free bases. A couple free bases and three errors in that inning and all of a sudden you give up six runs in an inning and that's a tough obstacle to overcome."

VU had four multi-hit games at the top of their order Tuesday, with Long, Lane and Evans each coming up with two hits, including doubles by Lane and Evans and Evans picking up a pair of RBI's.

Will Egger entered the game in the seventh to take over behind the plate and recorded two singles in two plate appearances, while also coming away with an RBI.

"It's good to see those guys back on track a little at the plate today heading into the weekend," Barney added. "I know that this past weekend Colin and Peyton struggled a little bit, so hopefully this gets them back on track and we can keep everybody else rolling."

"Will has done a great job for us behind the dish," Barney said. "He caught the last three innings behind the plate and got a couple of at bats and put a good couple of swings on balls, so it was a good day for all of those guys."

Freshman Cauy Motsinger (Salem, Ind.) got the start on the mound and threw into the third inning allowing seven runs on four hits in two-plus innings.

Freshmen Eli Steimel (Sullivan, Ind.), Caleb Moore (Wentzville, Mo.), Jake Stuteville (Rockport, Ind.) and Nick Kapostasy each pitched an inning out of the bullpen, with the four combining to allow two runs on three hits, with Moore striking out one and Stuteville striking out two.

"Cauy Motsinger did a great job," Barney added. "He gave us two innings and if we make plays behind him he would have given us three which is what we were shooting for. Caleb Moore did a good job. I thought Kapostasy at the end did a good job as well as Stuteville who got into a little bit of a jam but got himself out of it."

"So for those guys and Eli Steimel who I thought did well on the mound too, I thought we got five guys out of the seven that threw that threw pretty decent today," Barney said.

The Trailblazers will continue to take their show on the road this weekend when VU heads to Godfrey, Ill. for a Mid-West Athletic Conference (MWAC) series at Lewis & Clark.

The four-game weekend series is set to begin on Saturday, April 30, with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. eastern.

The final two games are scheduled for Sunday, May 1, with first pitch Sunday set for 1 p.m. eastern.

"We talk about it all the time, we've got to play good defense, we've got to come up with some timely hitting and we've got to get some quality starts out of our pitching," Barney said. "Our bullpen has to be able to sustain what they've been able to do for us all year. If we can do that, we'll have a lot of success this weekend. That's what we're trying to get done and hopefully we will be ready to roll for the weekend."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

VU (18-24, 8-12) – 000   200   203 – 7

Lincoln Trail – 116   210   10x – 12

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – Sizemore, Evans, Lane. RBI – Long, Evans 2, Kapostasy, Elliott, Egger. HBP – Sizemore, Long. SF – Kapostasy.