BLINN BASEBALL POUNDS AMARILLO 15-6 TO TAKE THE SERIES
Story by Joe Alberico, Blinn College Sports Information
The second-ranked Blinn College baseball team earned a series win over Amarillo College by way of a 15-6 victory on Saturday at Leroy Dreyer Field in Brenham, Texas.
The Buccaneers took two of three games from the Badgers and now sit at 4-2 overall this season.
After scoring just six runs while splitting Friday's series-opening doubleheader, Blinn answered a challenge issued by its coaching staff ahead of Saturday's tilt.
"We challenged our guys to come out, put their heads down, and play hard for nine innings," Bucs skipper Dusty Hart said. "I was really happy with the way our guys answered the call. We had good energy in the dugout from start to finish, and that carried over into how we handled ourselves on the field."
Blinn trailed early, falling behind 1-0 in the third inning before clawing ahead with two runs in its half of the frame. After Amarillo jumped in front 3-2 in the fourth, the Bucs again answered to force a tie in the home half of the inning.
The Bucs grabbed a 4-3 edge in the fifth only for the Badgers to rally for one more stalemate in the top of the sixth.
In the home half of the sixth, Blinn apparently had enough of the back-and-forth ballgame.
After sophomore shortstop Jack Bohacek and freshman third baseman Ryley Leininger drew consecutive walks with no outs, freshman designated hitter Zachary Tuxhorn crushed his second home run of the season for a 7-4 advantage.
Sophomore second baseman Hunter Smolinski followed with a single, and one out later, sophomore right fielder Reece Lunsford hit his second homer of the year to left field to push the lead to five.
The Badgers got one back in each of the seventh and eighth frames, but Blinn responded with three more in its half of the seventh before freshman left fielder Carson Cherry added a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth.
In total, the Bucs collected 12 hits and 12 walks. Eight players had at least one hit for Blinn.
Leininger, Smolinski, Cherry, and sophomore center fielder Kason Atkins had two hits apiece. Tuxhorn and Cherry drove in four runs apiece and Atkins doubled while plating three. Lunsford added two RBIs.
"We passed the bat, we took our walks, and when we got a big hit, it was usually scoring a couple of runs because we had guys working to get on base," Hart added. "That was a really sound effort for us."
On the mound, sophomore left-hander Ben Polleschultz earned his first victory of the season and moved to 1-0. He allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits and did not walk a batter while striking out eight.
Redshirt freshman Marc Barnhard tossed four innings of relief and surrendered three earned runs in four hits with one walk and seven punchouts.
"Both Polleschultz and Barnhard did a job for us today," Hart said. "It wasn't perfect, but this early in the season guys are still finding their form and figuring some things out. I thought both pitchers did some really good things and we took advantage of it."
Blinn remains home for a doubleheader against Temple College starting at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 11, at Leroy Dreyer Field.