BUCS OPEN SERIES WITH 9-6 WIN OVER WHARTON

Story by Joe Alberico, Blinn College Sports Information

A pair of home runs from sophomore Matt Quintanar highlighted a 14-hit attack for the fourth-ranked Blinn College baseball team as the Buccaneers fended off Wharton County Junior College 9-6 on Tuesday in Brenham, Texas.

Blinn won the opener of a three-game Region XIV South series with the Pioneers to improve to 36-10 overall and push its first-place record in the South to 24-5.

"Tonight, we got the hits when we needed them and our guys pulled through in a tight ballgame at the end," Bucs head coach Dusty Hart said. "Our goal right now is every time we step on the field, we want to play good baseball. We still have work to do but it's always good to stay in the win column."

Blinn got going on a two-run home run from Quintanar in the first inning, and the hot-hitting catcher added an insurance run on a solo shot to cap the scoring in the eighth. 

Quintanar finished 4 for 5 with three RBIs and three runs scored. The first-year Buc is leading his team with a .433 batting average to go with nine home runs and 49 RBIs, and is enjoying a .556 month of April.

"Matt is locked in 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Hart said. "He's extremely talented and confident, and a very mature baseball player. We're definitely happy he's in our dugout."

Blinn broke things open in the third frame on a bases loaded double from sophomore Lane Allen that cleared the bases and made it 5-0. Freshman Drew Britton drove in Allen with a single, and after the Bucs loaded the bases, freshman Reece Lunsford walked to make it 7-0.

The Pioneers broke up the shutout with a run in the fourth, and Blinn answered on a Lunsford RBI single in the fifth.

Wharton added a run in the seventh and made things interesting with four runs in the top of the eighth. Sophomore pitcher Hunter Bond entered for the Bucs with one out in the eighth and worked out of a bases loaded jam to keep his team ahead by two.

Quintanar added his second homer of the game in the home half of the inning, and in the ninth, Bond set Wharton County down in order for his third save.

Freshman Ben Polleschultz started for Blinn and improved to 4-0 on the year. He worked around a 30-minute lightning delay in the second inning to toss four innings of two-hit ball. Polleschultz allowed an unearned run and three walks and struck out six Pioneers.

Freshman Matt Taylor hurled 2 2/3 innings of relief in which he gave up an earned run and four walks to go with three punchouts. Freshman Cadyn Shaw was charged with four unearned runs in an inning of work.

Following Quintanar in the hit column were sophomore Bennett Fryman and freshman Trey Craig, who tallied two hits apiece. Nine different Bucs recorded at least one hit. 

Blinn and Wharton County conclude their series with a doubleheader at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Wharton, Texas.