The Blackburn College Baseball Team earned a 5-2 victory over the MacMurray Highlanders in extra innings on Saturday afternoon in Jacksonville.

The Beavers got on the board first in the 6th inning. After a walk and a MacMurray error, senior Donny Furhhop (St. Jacob, Ill.) smashed a RBI single into right field for Blackburn's first hit of the game.

Senior starting pitcher Caleb Schupbach was holding down the fort until the 8th inning. A leadoff hit and an error put runners on second and third with nobody out. MacMurray catcher Aaron Krummrich drove a double into right center to plate two runs. Schupbach would get out of the inning with no further damage. His final line was 9 IP, 7 hits, 1 ER, and 3 K's.

Down one in the ninth, the Beavers loaded up the bases with just one out. Sophomore Aaron Moody (Navarino, Wisc.) hit a tapper back to the mound. The Highlanders attemped a 1-2-3 double play but the throw to first was low. Cody Flowers (Rantoul, Ill.) scored all the way from second to knot the game at two.

In the top of the eleventh, Moody found himself in the same spot with a chance at redemption. This time Moody won the battle and lined a single to centerfield to score two runs.  The throw to the plate beat senior Josh Voigtlander (Rockford, Ill.), but he deked the catcher and tapped home plate to score the second run. Blackburn added another insurance run on a suicide squeeze bunt by Vinnie Birk (Swansea, Ill.).

Tyler Gosnell (DeKalb, Ill.) earned the win in relief by pitching two innings and surrendering just one hit.

Birk led the charge offensively with a 3-4 day at the dish. Fuhrhop, Jon Lowry (Peoria Heights, Ill.), Jose Osorio (Caguas, Puerto Rico), Joey Szerletich (Pleasant Plains, Ill.) and Moody each had one hit. 

MacMurray's starting pitcher, Alex Willeford, is one of the top arms in the conference and struck out seven hitters in nine innings. Blackburn Head Coach Mike Neal said "It's always good when you beat a pitcher like Willeford. Knowing we just beat a bona fide ace should give us all the confidence we need."

Blackburn will host MacMurray tomorrow afternoon to finish off the series. Game one of the doubleheader begins at 1:00 PM.