NO. 5 BLINN BASEBALL POWERS PAST SAN-JACINTO NORTH TO PUNCH THIRST CONSECUTIVE TICKET TO JUCO WORLD SERIES

 The Buccaneers swept the Region XIV Super Regional series and will now defend their 2024 national championship

If the Blinn College baseball team hoped to defend its 2024 NJCAA Division I Baseball national championship, the Buccaneers would first need to return to the place where they won it.

On Friday, Blinn made certain it would do just that.

The fifth-ranked Buccaneers completed a Region XIV Super Regional series sweep of No. 23 San Jacinto College-North with a 13-5 victory at Leroy Dreyer Field in Brenham, Texas, and in the process won the NJCAA Mid-South District championship and punched its ticket to the JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, Colo., for the third time in as many seasons. 

One season after capturing the program’s first national title, Blinn will return to the national tournament looking to make it two in a row. The Bucs will make their ninth overall appearance at the World Series, while their stretch of three consecutive berths is a program high.

“It’s incredibly difficult being a defending national champion,” third-year Bucs head coach Dusty Hart said. “I’ve gone down this road before (in 2009 following Grayson College’s national championship), and it’s a grind. Everyone is gunning for you from the start; you’ve got a big target on your back; and just the breaks and ball bounces that have to go your way to get to the national tournament, all of that seems to intensify a bit when you’re trying to do it all over again.”

Blinn returned just a small handful of players from 2024’s title team, but Hart credited those sophomores for helping guide a ship of first-year Bucs.

“Having that experience I think really prevented us from ever straying too far off track,” Hart added.

In fitting fashion, it was two sophomores from last season’s club who provided a big spark Thursday.

Caden Ferraro, a key cog in Blinn’s offensive onslaught in Grand Junction last season, erupted against San Jacinto-North on Friday. The first baseman went 3 for 6 with an RBI single and a pair of two-run base hits. Ethan Gonzalez, a catcher and designated hitter, finished 1 for 3 with a two-run home run, a walk, and three RBIs. 

“We worked all year for this, and we knew it was going to be tough,” Ferraro said. “There’s experience on this team, but there’s also a lot of young guys who are talented and are hungry to keep this program going in the right direction. Once we got everyone on the same page and believing that we could be the best team in our region and make another run at a national title, I really think that’s what really started to drive things forward again.”

Sophomore catcher Matt Quintanar gave the Bucs a lead they would never relinquish when he lined a solo homer to center field in the top of the first inning.

Gonzalez cranked a longball to center to make it 3-0 in the second. The inning kept going as freshman Drew Britton walked, sophomore Ryder McDaniel singled, and freshman Reece Lunsford was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Ferraro then stepped to the plate and roped a single to center to make it 4-0.

The lead grew to 6-0 in the fourth on sophomore Bennett Fryman’s two-run single.

The Ravens made things interesting in the fourth as they cut into Blinn’s lead with a two-run singler and an RBI base knock that made it 6-3.

“Things got a little hairy there for a moment,” Hart said, “but give credit to our guys for keeping their foot on the gas pedal and never really letting San Jacinto get back into this one.”

After Bucs starting pitcher Hayden Morris escaped further damage by inducing a double play to end the fourth, Blinn’s offense got right back to work.

Ferraro drove in Britton and McDaniel with a two-run single in the fifth, and after the Ravens got a run back on a sacrifice fly off relief pitcher Hudson Melaerts in the home half of the firth, the Bucs kept adding on in the sixth.

McDaniel singled in Fryman, Lunsford was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Ferraro added his second two-run single of the game to make it 12-4.

Gonzalez capped Blinn’s onslaught with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

San Jacinto tallied its final run of the game on a solo homer in the eighth.

“It’s a great feeling knowing we’re going back to Grand Junction,” Gonzalez said. “Coach Hart told us at the very beginning of the season that our one goal this year is to defend our championship, and I think we’re proving right now that we have the right group of guys to get the job done. This is probably the toughest team I’ve ever been a part of.”

Blinn finished with 12 hits. Behind Ferraro’s three-hit day was a string of two-hit performances from Quintanar, McDaniel, and freshman Kason Atkins. 

Freshman starting pitcher Hayden Morris earned the win for the Bucs following four innings of work. The right-hander allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts and improved to 10-0 on the year. Freshman Hudson Melaerts came on in relief to earn a five-inning save. He allowed an earned run on just two hits while punching out seven Ravens without issuing a free pass.

The NJCAA JUCO World Series begins Saturday, May 24. The first pitch of game one is set for 9 a.m. The 10-team field has yet to be decided. Games will be broadcast live on ESPN.

Story Courtesy of:
Joe Alberico   
Blinn Sports Information Specialist