Vincennes baseball falls in conference doubleheader at Parkland College

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Vincennes University baseball team closed out their road Mid-West Athletic Conference (MWAC) season with a doubleheader at Parkland College Monday afternoon.

The Trailblazers fell behind early in both games and were unable to recover as the Cobras took game one of the day 15-4 and game two 10-2.

Game one of the day got off to a shaky start for the Blazers as Parkland put up a big five-run inning in the second and tacked on another run in the third to take an early 6-0 lead.

Vincennes would get on the scoreboard in the fourth after four straight walks drove in VU's first run of the game, followed by a fielder's choice by freshman Ethan Burdette (Linton, Ind.) to drive in a second run.

Parkland would grow their lead back with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning before Vincennes would responded with another two run inning in the fifth.

Sophomore Peyton Lane (New Paris, Ohio) led off the inning with a walk and would later score on a wild pitch.

Sophomore Connor VanLannen (Clinton, Ind.) later walked in the inning and was driven in on an RBI single by sophomore Dale Coy (Evansville, Ind.).

Parkland would grab the momentum back in the bottom of the fifth with a three-run inning and take game one in walk-off fashion in the sixth with another four runs, giving the Cobras the 15-4 win.

Freshman Dawson Blaylock (Eaton, Ohio) got the start on the mound in game one of the day, throwing three and two-thirds innings, allowing eight runs on 10 hits and striking out two.

Sophomore Ryan Bartley (Tuscola, Ill.) worked two-thirds of an inning out of the bullpen and allowed two runs, while striking out one.

Freshman Caleb Moore (Wentzville, Mo.) threw the remaining one and one-third innings, allowing five runs on four hits and striking out one.

"Game one of the day we gave up five runs in the third and battled our way back into the game, but not enough," VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. "We've got to play better defense, bottom line. Today we didn't do it. We had about five or six errors in the game, we had missed opportunities to turn a double play, we had some pick off plays where we had guys out but we just didn't catch the ball. We've just got to do a better job of catching the baseball and recording outs."

"When you give a solid team like Parkland extra outs and free bases, they are going to take advantage of it and that's what they did today," Barney added. "Parkland did a nice job."

Game two of the day began with a little slower of a start until Parkland grabbed complete control of the game with a massive seven run inning in the third.

The Trailblazers would manage to get a run back in the fourth on an RBI single by freshman Eli Steimel (Sullivan, Ind.), before Parkland answered with a pair of runs of their own.

Vincennes would score again in the fifth after a leadoff single by freshman Colton Evans (Henderson, Ky.), who would come around to score on a bases loaded walk by Ethan Burdette.

The game would hold a 9-2 until Parkland began the seventh inning with four straight singles and took game two of the day by the final score of 10-2.

Freshman Jake Stuteville (Rockport, Ind.) was the starter for VU in game two of the day, throwing two and two-thirds innings, allowing seven runs on five hits and striking out a pair of batters.

Sophomore Braedon Nichols (Sullivan, Ind.) entered from the pen and slowed the Parkland momentum, throwing two and one-third innings, allowing three runs on 10 hits in his outing.

"Jake Stuteville did a great job for us for two innings and kept us in it," Barney said. "Then he gave up a hit, hit batsman, a walk and all of a sudden a base hit where we didn't make a play behind him. All seven runs in the inning were unearned because we came up with some outs, but just didn't make the plays."

"Like I said about game one, we've got to play better defense," Barney added. "That's what we are going to have to do the rest of this week ahead of the conference tournament."

The Trailblazers will look to bounce back in their final road game of the 2022 Spring baseball season when VU hits the road Tuesday, May 10 to take on Wabash Valley College in Mt. Carmel, Ill. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. eastern.

Vincennes will then look to close out the regular season on a strong note at home for the final MWAC Conference weekend of the season when VU hosts John Wood Community College at Jerry Blemker Field Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14. First pitch Friday is set for 3 p.m. eastern, with Saturday's first pitch set for 12 p.m. eastern.

"We are going to have to get ourselves playing better defensively the rest of this week," Barney said. "We have to get some quality starts out of our pitching like we did yesterday in the first two against Parkland and have to continue to work our bullpen."

"We've got about four or five different arms that will be ready to go tomorrow to get us through Wabash Valley and hopefully get us ready to bring in John Wood at home this weekend," Barney added.

BOX SCORE

GAME ONE

VU (21-28, 11-16) – 000   220 – 4

Parkland – 051   234 – 15

VINCENNES HITTING

RBI – Burdette, Coy, Pelzer. SB – VanLannen.

GAME TWO

VU (21-29, 11-17) – 000   110   0 – 2

Parkland – 007   200   1 – 10

VINCENNES HITTING

RBI – Burdette, Steimel.