The Blackburn College Baseball Team opened St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a doubleheader sweep of Iowa Wesleyan University on Wednesday afternoon in Carlinville by scores of 7-4 and 9-2. In game one, junior left-hander Bubby Stepp threw a complete game striking out five and in game two, senior right-hander Jarrett Sandlin followed with a nine-inning complete game.
In game one after a scoreless first, the Beavers jumped ahead 4-0 in the bottom half as Steven Diaz singled after one out, Walter Jarvis followed with a single and then Ryan Steen drove in Diaz with a RBI single. Nate Bassett then doubled over the centerfielder's head for two RBI's. Ry Clark then knocked in Bassett when the rightfielder could not handle his towering flyball. Blackburn added runs in the 3rd on a Clark fielders choice, in the fourth on a two-out RBI single by Jarvis and in the sixth on a RBI fielders choice off the bat of Steven Diaz. Stepp was in control most of the way pitching around four Beaver errors. Jarvis, Steen and Bassett all had two hits to lead the Beavers eleven hit attack.
In game two, Sandlin pitched masterfully, retiring 15 consecutive hitters from the second inning to the seventh inning. Bassett had a three-hit game, Tyler Durand added a pair of hits as did Ryan Lopez who entered the game after Christian Padilla collided with leftfielder Diaz in the second inning. Clark added a pair of doubles and two runs batted in for the Beavers who improve to 4-13 on the season and open with the first two wins since 2016.
Sandlin struck out eight and didn't walk a batter to improve to 2-2 on the season. Blackburn is scheduled to take on Fontbonne University on Saturday in Clayton, Missouri on Saturday.
"Our pitching was outstanding today," said Blackburn coach Mike Neal. "Our top two guys gave us the outings we needed and we got some nice timely hitting on the day." "After opening the season with 15 games on the road it was nice to play at home and our guys really responded," added Neal.
