POLLESCHULTZ LEADS BUCS PAST GALVESTON 7-2

Story by Joe Alberico, Blinn College Sports Information

A stellar start from Ben Polleschultz propelled the fifth-ranked Blinn College baseball team past Galveston College 7-2 in a Region XIV South matchup Wednesday at Leroy Dreyer Field in Brenham, Texas.

"Galveston did a good job of battling and keeping us on our toes, but when they got some momentum, our pitching staff did a great job of shutting them down," Buccaneers head coach Dusty Hart said. "Ben was on the forefront of that effort tonight."

Polleschultz deployed a low-90s fastball and an effective 12-6 curveball for six solid innings of four-hit, two-run ball. He walked just two Whitecaps while striking out 10 to improve to 3-0. Both runs charged against him were earned.

Blinn (33-10, 21-5 South) gave Polleschultz and two relief pitchers plenty of run support as the Bucs scored five runs in the first four innings.

An error got Blinn on the board in the first inning before freshman Seth Sloan launched a two-run home run over the wall in center field for a 3-0 cushion in the second.

Sophomore Lane Allen pushed the lead to four on a sacrifice fly in the third. 

Galveston scored its first run in the top of the fourth to make it 4-1, but the Bucs answered quickly as sophomore Caden Ferraro lifted his 14th home run of the year to center to make it 5-0 in the bottom of the inning.

The Whitecaps got another run back in the sixth.

Galveston had two runners on with one out in the seventh and two on with no outs in the eighth, but Blinn freshman Hudson Melaerts pitched out of trouble in both frames to preserve his team's three-run advantage. He gave up one hit, walked two, and fanned two across two innings of work.

Blinn then padded its lead in its half of the eighth with a two-run double off the bat of hot-hitting sophomore Matt Quintanar. The first-year Buc is hitting .583 (21 for 36) in April and has gone hitless just once in nine games this month. He's batting .432 on the year.

Sophomore Hunter Bond entered in the top of the ninth and retired the Whitecaps in order to end the game.

"Things got a little hairy there at the end, but we did a really good job of stopping Galveston's momentum," Hart added. "Sometimes, when you lose momentum, it's not easy to get it back and things can snowball on you, but our offense showed back up late and our guys on the mound were just phenomenal."

The Bucs racked up 10 hits, led by a three-hit game for sophomore Bennett Fryman and two-hit efforts for Quintanar and Ferraro.

Blinn and Galveston conclude their four-game set with a doubleheader at 2 p.m. on Friday in Galveston, Texas. The Bucs will attempt to sweep the series.