Blackburn Splits With Greenville

With the field too messy to play in Carlinville, the Beavers traveled to Greenville College to finish off a three game set against the Panthers.

In game one, Blackburn pulled out to a 1-0 lead in the first on a Matt Mokriakow groundout.  Greenville then countered to score 3 runs by the third inning off of senior pitcher Cody Unser, 2 of which came on a home run by Greenville's Ryan Smith.

Blackburn regained the lead in the fourth inning when they scored 3 runs of their own. Vinnie Birk dropped down a RBI bunt single which was then followed by a Jacob Conder 2 run double that ricocheted off the wall in left. 

Heading into the sixth, the Beavers held 1 4-3 lead until the Panthers' Ryan Smith connected for his second long ball of the game, this one off of reliever Cody Meyer. The three-run bomb would be the end of the scoring for the remainder of the game as the Beavers fell by a final score of 6-4.

Cody Unser went 5 2/3 innings on the mound surrendering 8 hits and 3 earned runs while fanning 4 Greenville hitters. Franklin Bush had 3 hits in the game while Jacob Conder also knocked around 2 hits of his own.

In the second game, the offensive attack was in full force.  The action began in the third inning when the Beavers put up three runs off of hits by Franklin Bush and Matt Mokriakow.  The bats came alive again in the sixth when Aaron Moody drove in two on a single and Donny Fuhrhop had an RBI of his own.

Blackburn would continue to build off of their lead putting up yet another three run inning in the seventh. Jon Lowry would drive in two runs with a base hit.  Meanwhile, Vinnie Birk held Greenville hitters at bay with a great pitching performance as he threw seven innings of two run ball striking out six. The Beavers pulled away with the landslide victory of 10-2.

Matt Mokriakow had a career day at the plate with a 4-4 performance and two RBI's. Jon Lowry threw down a 3-4 day while Aaron Moody, Donny Fuhrhop, and Jacob Conder all had two hits of their own.

With that win, Blackburn now posts a record of 3-11 and a conference record of 1-4. Next, SLIAC rival Principia will travel to the Beaver Dome on Monday with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 pm.