Senior Right-Handed Pitcher Jarrett Sandlin grinded through five inning to help the Blackburn College Baseball Team top Lawrence University, 5-4, on Saturday afternoon in Jacksonville. Sandlin struck out seven hitters and allowed three runs but none of them were earned as Blackburn moves to 1-5 on the season. After Lawrence was retired in a scoreless top of the first, Blackburn answered with two outs in the bottom half as Tyler Durand singled and then Ryan Steen blasted a long homerun to left to give the Beavers a 2-0 lead. Lawrence scored an unearned run in the top of the second and two more unearned runs in the top of the third to take a 3-2 lead. Ry Clark doubled with two outs scoring Shane Lewis to tie the game at 3-3. Sandlin gave the Beavers two more scoreless innings before coming out with a pitch count at 108. "I came out with the mindset of this being a very important game for us, felt that I threw pretty well and we were able to bounce back as a team after some mistakes, and our defense bounced back after making mistakes," said Sandlin. "I thank the Lord for the opportunity and our team is ready to get back at it tomorrow," added Sandlin.
The Beavers took the lead in the bottom of the fourth as Christian Padilla hit a sacrifice fly scoring Nate Bassett and making it 4-3, Blackburn. The Beavers added another lead on Clark's second RBI hit of the day singling in Ryan Steen. Lowell Schwartz pitched a scoreless sixth for Blackburn, followed by three innings of relief and the first career save for Shane Lewis.
For Blackburn, Clark was 2 for 2, Steen 2 for 4, to lead the nine-hit offensive attack. Blackburn committed five errors and walked four hitters and still hung on for the win.
In the first game of the day, the Beavers walked seven guys and committed multiple errors in falling to Elmhurst College by a score of 17-7. Blackburn had 13 hits in that game with Steen's 4 for 5 day leading the way. Bubby Stepp took the loss on the mound for Blackburn.
Blackburn will take on Loras College tomorrow at 10 a.m. at Lenz Field in Jacksonville.