The Blackburn College Baseball Team used a six-run first inning to cruise to a 12-2 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory against Principia College on Tuesday afternoon in Elsah. The win marked the first collegiate pitching victory for Jacob Baalman, who pitched a complete game four-hitter striking out six and walking two.
Blackburn came out of the gate as Cody Flowers beat out an infield single then advance to third on Franklin Bush's hit and run single. Donny Fuhrhop then lined a single that got by the centerfielder scoring Flowers and Bush. After an out, Cody Unser singled home Fuhrhop, then with two outs, Jose Osorio was hit by a pitch, Vinnie Birk then reached on a single and when the throw went past the first baseman, Unser scored and moved Birk and Unser to second and third. Jacob Conder then walked to load the bases before Flowers lined a two-run single to make the score 6-0.
The Beavers added a run in the fourth on a Matt Mokriakow rbi groundout that scored Bush. The Beavers added two more in the fifth as Flowers had another two-run single. The Beavers then put the game out of reach with a three-run sixth to take a 12-2 lead.
Flowers was 3 for 4 on the afternoon with 4 rbi's and Blackburn swiped six bases with Unser and Conder credited with two apiece. Blackburn is now 6-11 and 4-4 in the SLIAC and will be riding a four-game winning streak into the weekend where they travel to St. Louis to take on Fontbonne University on Saturday before hosting Spalding University in a 12:00 noon make-up game before a 3:00 p.m. series closer against Fontbonne.
Beaver Notes:
*Donny Fuhrhop leads the Beavers with a .382 average and leads the team in hits
*Baalman's first collegiate victory was within about 20 miles from where he grew up in Calhoun County
*Jose Osorio was hit by two pitches taking his team-leading total to eight
*Sunday Funday for Beaver Fans this week as this Sunday brings 18 scheduled innings of baseball at Blackburn with the regularly scheduled contest along with the make-up with Spalding University. Early Forecast is for a sunny afternoon and a high of 63 degrees.