BUCS SPLIT SUNDAY DOUBLEHEADER WITH WHARTON

BRYAN, Texas — The Blinn College baseball team split a doubleheader with Wharton County Junior College to conclude the regular season on Sunday.

The Buccaneers opened the doubleheader with a 12-11 win, then fell to Wharton, 6-4, in the second game.

With the split, the Buccaneers conclude the regular season with a 20-20 overall record and 14-16 conference record.

Blinn will face off against Galveston College in a game to be announced for a spot in the NJCAA Region XIV-South Baseball Championship Tournament.

Blinn 12 – Wharton 11 

The Buccaneers rallied for three late runs to come back and defeat Wharton, 12-11, to open the doubleheader.

Ben Hovda and Jett Garcia led the offense with three-run homers, while Westley Schields went 3-for-4, hit a solo home run and drove in two runs.

Grant Wood and Mason Muras each put up hitless and scoreless innings on relief. Wood struck out two in 1 1/3 inning and Muras pitched the final inning.

Wharton took off with a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning, but the Buccaneers landed on the board in the bottom half of the inning when Schields hit a solo home run.

Wharton scored two runs in the third inning to lead 5-1, but Blinn answered back with Hovda’s three-run blast in the bottom of the inning.

After Wharton extended its lead to 7-4 in the fourth inning, Blinn scored four runs in the bottom half of the inning to lead for the first time. Dalton Stevenson kicked things off with a one-run single, then Garcia hit a three-run homer for the Buccaneers to lead 8-7.

Wharton came back and scored four runs in the top of the fifth to take the lead back. Blinn scored one run in the bottom of the fifth inning when Russell hit a one-run double.

Blinn continued to trail until the bottom of the seventh inning when the Buccaneers scored three runs to walk off with the win. After Jack Schell singled and Hovda doubled, Kam Kelton and Schields each hit one-run singles to tie the game. Then, Aaron Kohring followed with a single to drive in the final run for the walk-off win.

Wharton 6 – Blinn 4 

Wharton came back in the second game of the doubleheader to defeat Blinn, 6-4.

Cullen Sherrill recorded two RBIs, while Tyler Russell scored two runs to lead the offense.

Hudson Forrest pitched one scoreless inning of relief, while Blane Romero surrendered one run on one hit in 1 2/3 innings of relief.

Wharton took a 5-0 lead after scoring one run in the first inning, tacking on two in the second inning, and adding one in each of the fifth and seventh innings.

The Buccaneers scored their first run in the seventh inning when Garcia hit a one-run single for Russell to score.

Wharton scored its final run in the eighth inning to lead 6-1.

Blinn rallied for three runs in the ninth inning. After Russell and Preston Hoffart hit back-to-back singles, Russell scored on Cole Smajstrla’s single. Sherril drove in Blinn’s final two runs on a triple, but was left stranded on third.

For more information, visit www.buccaneersports.com.

(COURTESY: Tara Dreyer, Blinn Information)