The Blackburn College Baseball Team split a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader with Iowa Wesleyan University by identical 9-7 scores on Thursday afternoon in Carlinville. The Beavers took the opener 9-7 and then fell behind 9-0 before rallying for seven runs but fell short in the nitecap.
In game one, Sammy Gordon struggled early before settling down and giving the Beavers seven innings pitched. Gordon allowed three runs on five hits, he walked four, hit five others but struck out six to pick up his second win of the season. After Gordon stranded the bases loaded in the first, Blackburn grabbed a 4-0 lead after one as the Beavers had three hits including doubles by Tyler Jackson and Adam Holm. The Tigers cut the lead in half in the third inning as Gordon hit the first two batter before a two-run double by Nicholas Salas made it 4-2.
Blackburn made it 5-2 in the bottom half of the inning as Mitchell Binder scored on an RBI groundout off the bat of Avery Dugan. The Beavers moved to a 9-2 lead in the fifth on a five hit inning as Gordon settled in. Skyler McManus pitched a shutout 8th before things got interesting in the ninth inning. The Tigers climbed back in thanks to walks to three of the first four hitters in the inning before Blackburn brought in Kolton Beckett with the score cut to 9-3. Beckett walked the first hitter to cut the lead to 9-4 and then a fielders choice and basehit cut the lead to 9-7. Beckett then got a strikeout and groundout to earn his third save of the season.
In game two, Blackburn spotted the Tigers a 2-0 first inning lead thanks to shoddy defense. The defensive woes continued in the third as errors led to Iowa Wesleyan taking a 5-0 lead. The Blackburn offense disappeared as Iowa Wesleyan was able to run out to a 9-0 lead. The brightspot was four innings of scoreless relief by Kyle Sanders.
Trailing by 9 entering the 9th the Beavers made it interesting as the Tigers walked four of the first five hitters. The Beavers eventually cut it to 9-7 and had the bases loaded with two outs when Derek Dickerson's smash was gloved by a diving Salas to end the contest.
Blackburn is 3-11 on the season and also in the conference as Iowa Wesleyan moved to 2-4 overall and in the conference as the two teams are playing conference only seasons.
"I was proud that we didn't quit in game two and finally had some good approaches at the plate," said Blackburn Coach Mike Neal. It was frustrating watching the previous 8 innings as we were easy outs," added Neal. "Their pitcher did a good job just throwing strikes as he only walked one batter," said Neal.