Colin Long’s late home run gives Trailblazers series split at Lewis & Clark

ALTON, Ill. – VU sophomore center fielder Colin Long (Evansville, Ind.) broke a 7-7 tie in game four of Vincennes' four-game Mid-West Athletic Conference (MWAC) series at Lewis & Clark with a solo home run in the eighth inning to help give VU a 9-7 win to close out the series.

Vincennes fell in the first game of the day 5-0 before battling back to take game two 9-7 and coming home with a 2-2 series split.

Lewis & Clark wasted little time in game one of the day, scoring three runs in the first and adding another run in the second to take a 4-0 early lead.

The VU batters had a hard time figuring out the Lewis & Clark pitching all game, with Vincennes only able to get two hits through six innings.

Lewis & Clark would add an additional run in the fourth and hold on to close out the 5-0 win.

Vincennes sophomore Dale Coy (Evansville, Ind.) finished with two of VU's three hits on the day, leading off the second and seventh innings with a single.

Freshman Cauy Motsinger (Salem, Ind.) got the start on the mound in game one Monday afternoon, throwing two-thirds of an inning, allowing three runs on two hits and striking out two.

Freshman Dawson Blaylock (Eaton, Ohio) put together a good game out of the bullpen, lasting four innings, allowing two runs on five hits and striking out one.

Freshman Caleb Moore (Wentzville, Mo.) closed out the game on the mound for VU, lasting an inning and a third while surrendering only one hit and striking out one.

"Lewis & Clark's pitcher did a great job in game one today," VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. "It's the second time all year that we've been shut out, so you have to tip your hat to their guy. We have to make some adjustments at the plate. We allowed them an opportunity to get ahead early and that took a little pressure off of their pitcher and he responded and did a great job for them."

"We tried to battle back. I thought Blaylock and Moore threw pretty well," Barney added. "Motsinger struggled a little bit at the start and Blaylock came in and threw four innings and Moore closed out the last 1.1 innings and both those guys threw really well."

The visiting Trailblazers looked to bounce back and come away with a four-game split in game two of the day, as the host Trailblazers again were first on the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the first.

Vincennes answered back in the third as the bats came alive in a big way, beginning the inning with seven straight hits, including RBI singles by Colin Long, freshman Colton Evans (Henderson, Ky.), sophomore Peyton Lane (New Paris, Ohio) and Dale Coy and a two-RBI double by Connor VanLannen (Clinton, Ind.) as Vincennes answered back to take a 6-2 lead.

Lewis & Clark responded to tie the game in the fifth with four runs.

VU answered back with a lead-off single by freshman Will Egger (Terre Haute, Ind.) in the sixth. Egger would later score in the inning on an error.

Lewis & Clark tied the game in the bottom half of the inning at 7-7.

Vincennes would take the lead for good in the eighth when Colin Long launched a two-out solo home run to give the Trailblazers the lead.

Colton Evans would provide an additional insurance run after reaching base on an error and scoring on a balk as VU took the lead with the eventual final score of 9-7.

Freshman Jake Stuteville (Rockport, Ind.) got the start in game two of the day, throwing an inning and a third, allowing two runs on five hits.

Sophomores Braedon Nichols (Sullivan, Ind.) and Luke Osborn (Perrysville, Ind.) combined to hold Lewis & Clark at bay out of the bullpen for a majority of the rest of the game.

Nichols threw two and two-thirds innings out of the pen, allowing two runs on four hits in the outing.

Osborn had his longest outing of the season, throwing the final four and two-thirds innings, allowing one run on one hit and striking out one on his way to picking up the winning decision.

Colin Long ended the series with a three hit game and a pair of RBI's.

Evans, Lane, VanLannen and sophomore Josiah Sizemore (Cambridge City, Ind.) all had two-hit games for the Blazers, with VanLannen ending with a pair of RBI's.

"Game two we got a big inning, put up a crooked number to go up 6-2 and really swung the pressure back on them," Barney said. "Lewis & Clark kept battling back to tie. We got two big outings out of the pen Nichols and Luke Osborn to finish it out."

"The top of the order did a really good job at the plate in game two," Barney added. "Colin Long comes through with a big clutch home run, plus we were able to string all those hits together earlier in the game. We executed on some bunts, did some things the right way and played the game the right way to extend that lead."

"That was the most innings Osborn has thrown all year but he was really, really good," Barney said. "He had some energy to him and he threw really well. Nichols helped bridge the gap to the middle innings. We had Nick Kapostasy (Cincinnati, Ohio) go out there and it just wasn't there for him, but then Osborn came in and shut it down."

VU will look to carry this positive momentum into their next MWAC Conference series this coming weekend as the Blazers head to Champaign, Ill. to take on Parkland College Saturday, May 7. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. eastern.

The weekend series will then shift to Jerry Blemker Field Sunday May 8 for the final two games of the four-game set. First pitch Sunday is scheduled for 2 p.m. eastern as well.

"We've just got to continue to work at it," Barney added. "We've got finals this week that we've got to get through and hopefully we can get some practices in too to get ourselves ready to go for the weekend. We've also got to get ourselves healthy. We've got a few guys banged up right now, we've got some arms that will hopefully bounce back here shortly."

"I feel like we are in a pretty good place right now," Barney said. "We're starting to get some arms back already and hopefully we can continue to get more guys healthy here in the next couple of weeks."

VINCENNES BOX SCORE

GAME ONE

VU (19-26, 9-14) – 000   000   0 – 0

Lewis & Clark – 310   100   x - 5

VINCENNES HITTING

HBP – Lane. SB – Long.

GAME TWO

VU (20-26, 10-14) – 006   001   020 – 9

Lewis & Clark – 200   041   000 – 7

VINCENNES HITTING

2B – VanLannen, Sizemore. HR – Long. RBI – Long 2, Evans, Lane, VanLannen 2, Coy. HBP -VanLannen, Roth.