Baseball Drops Two Heartbreakers

EUREKA, IL – Blackburn College Baseball dropped two games at St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival Eureka College in heartbreaking fashion, falling 10-9 in the opener and 5-2 in 10 innings in the nightcap. 

Junior Andrew Lozano led the way with four hits and was tied with freshman Diego Perez with two runs scored. Perez was also tied with senior Jason Hedges with two runs batted in. Perez and Hedges both added three hits, as did seniors Isaac Gleaves and Zach Knox. 

Junior Mason Wyant threw nine innings and threw five strikeouts during the game, allowing just two earned runs. Junior Alex Coffman threw seven innings and allowed only one earned run. 

The first inning of the day featured Gleaves getting hit by a pitch with bases loaded which let sophomore Harley Carney score the first runs of the day. Junior Frankie Ruiz then singled to score Lozano and put Blackburn up 2-0 after the top of the first inning. Eureka responded with a run in in their first four innings and were ahead 4-2 heading into the top of the sixth inning. 

Blackburn took the lead in the sixth when Hedges singled with bases loaded to score Perez and freshman Gehrig Loera. Sophomore Brett Lander also scored on the play due to a Red Devil throwing error to put the Beavers up 5-4. 

In the seventh inning, Blackburn had bases loaded again. Perez singled which scored Lozano and Gleaves, and Ruiz scored on the play as well. Perez then scored on the next at bat which saw Lander get on due to another Eureka throwing error. 

Eureka managed to score four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning but Blackburn held a 9-8 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. Unfortunately the Red Devils managed to score two runs to take a 10-9 win. 

The second game saw the hosts score two runs in the bottom of the third inning and held the 2-0 lead into the seventh inning. Lozano narrowed the deficit with a double to score Hedges and made it 2-1. Carney scored in the ninth off a Lander single to tie the game and forced a 10th inning. However, Eureka was able to hit a three-run home run in their 10th inning to capture a 5-2 win. 

Blackburn will return to action Sunday and will host Eureka in single game nonconference matchup.