GALVESTON BEATS BLINN 3-2 TO EVEN SERIES

Story by Joe Alberico, Blinn College Sports Information

With neither No. 4 Blinn College nor Galveston College generating much offense, Thursday’s Region 14 South baseball matchup fittingly came down to a walk.

Unfortunately, the decisive moment went against the Buccaneers.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning, the Whitecaps drew a free pass to force in the winning run and hand Blinn a 3-2 loss in Galveston, Texas.

The Bucs fell to 19-8 overall and 9-3 in South play.

“You have to play good baseball in order to win,” Blinn head coach Dusty Hart said. “Nobody cares about the name on the front of our jersey. If you don’t play good baseball, you’re supposed to lose. We showed up unprepared and that’s on me. We’ll get it corrected.”

With Bucs sophomore starter Dylan Thompson and Galveston freshman Ben Karakasis locked in a pitchers’ duel through six innings, runs came at a premium.

Thompson was outstanding, allowing two unearned runs on three hits with six strikeouts and one walk while earning a no-decision.

“Dylan Thompson pitched well enough to win, but you win as a team and you lose as a team,” Hart added.

Following an error and a groundout in the bottom of the first, the Whitecaps pushed across an unearned run on a sacrifice fly.

Blinn tied the game in the second inning when sophomore utility player Kason Atkins delivered an RBI double.

Galveston regained the lead in the fourth behind a pair of Bucs errors and an RBI single.

Blinn evened the score in the eighth after sophomore Benji Barrera and Atkins singled around a groundout. Freshman outfielder Carson Cherry followed with an RBI single to make it 2-2.

In the bottom of the ninth, with sophomore Hudson Melaerts (0-1) on the mound, Galveston worked four consecutive two-out walks to secure the walk-off victory.

It was a frustrating night offensively for Blinn, which left runners stranded at second or third base in the second, sixth, and eighth innings and had the potential go-ahead run thrown out at home plate in the ninth.

The Buccaneers out-hit the Whitecaps 8-3, with Atkins going 3 for 4 at the plate.

Freshman reliever Bo Collingwood followed Thompson and tossed two innings of no-hit baseball while striking out two.

The four-game series is now split at one game apiece. The teams will conclude the set with a doubleheader at 2 p.m. Saturday at Leroy Dreyer Field in Brenham, Texas.