The Blackburn College Baseball Team dropped two of three games in a series agasint Iowa Wesleyan College this weekend. The Beavers got an unhappy welcome from the Tigers, who are in their first full year in the SLIAC.
GAME ONE
The Beavers slapped around 19 hits en route to a 14-7 victory on Saturday afternoon. Blackburn scored in just three innings, but big innings in the sixth and seventh gave starting pitcher Caleb Schupbach (Rockford, Ill.) enough insurance. The senior righthander pitched six innings while surrendering five earned runs for the victory.
Junior Vinnie Birk (Swansea, Ill.) had a very impressive game at the dish. The Blackburn leadoff man had four hits and was just a home run away from the cycle. He also scored three runs and drove in a pair. Donny Fuhrhop (St. Jacob, Ill.) had three hits and five other Beavers had two.
GAME TWO
In the second game of two on Saturday, Blackburn lost a close one by the score of 7-5. The Beavers got three runs in the fifth inning when Aaron Moody (Navarino, Wisc.) hit a solo homer and Fuhrhop hit a two-run shot.
Tim Hillis (Williamsville, Mo.) pitched seven innings for Blackburn and received the loss. The wind was not pitcher-friendly in this one as it was blowing straight out to right field.
Blackburn had eleven hits in the game with two each from Birk, Fuhrhop, Franklin Bush (Auburn, Ala.), and Robert Smith (Guntersville, Ala.).
GAME THREE
With a game time that was changed three times due to the rain, the rubber game on Sunday saw Iowa Wesleyan pour it on Blackburn, 15-5.
The game was knotted at five until the Tigers' half of the seventh inning. Blackburn pitchers had trouble finding the strike zone and Iowa Wesleyan capitalized for 10 runs. The rain was coming down hard and made the field almost unplayable but the Tigers recorded the third out in the seventh for a win.
Jacob Baalman (Hardin, Ill.) surrendered six earned runs in six innings before giving way to the bullpen. The Beavers needed four relievers to complete the seventh inning.
Sophomore right fielder Matt Mokriakow (Glen Carbon, Ill.) led the push on offense by going 3-4 on the day. Birk and Moody each added a pair of singles as Blackburn had ten hits in the game. This marked the seventh straight game in which the Beavers had at least ten hits.
Blackburn will play at Eureka College this Wednesday as they finish up the series and look for a sweep. The Beavers are now 8-20 overall with a 7-10 conference mark.