Blackburn Baseball Opens SLIAC Season

COLUMBUS, MS -- Blackburn College Baseball opened St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play by visiting Mississippi University for Women but were unable to capture victory in the three game series. 

Junior Diego Perez led the team with five hits with two doubles. Freshman Joey Congi paced the squad with four runs batted in while senior Royce Congi had three. Freshman Landon Harbach, freshman Johnny Duran and junior Joshua Moreno all added four hits with Harbach scoring a team-best three runs. 

In the first game, Blackburn score first with two in the first inning. Moreno doubled to start the game and J. Congi walked before sophomore Jordan Kelly doubled to score both Moreno and J. Congi. The hosts scored one in the bottom of the inning and then two in the third to take a 3-2 lead. In the top of the fifth, Moreno and senior Brett Lander singled. J. Congi followed with a single to score Moreno. After sophomore Andrew Medina walked, Lander scored on a ball hit by Kelly and J. Congi gave the team a 5-3 advantage when he scored off a junior Dominic Medrano single. 

Unfortunately, MUW managed to respond with two runs in the fifth and managed to score the winning run in the bottom of the eighth to win 6-5. 

Kelly scored the first run of the second matchup when he scored on Medrano's fly out but the Owls scored four in the sixth to take the lead. In the seventh, Harbach scored off R. Congi's single. MUW added another run in the eighth which Blackburn looked to answer heading into the top of the ninth. Harbach, Perez, and senior Harley Carney singled to load the bases. After a pitching change, R. Congi singled to score Harbach, but it would be the only run as the Beavers fell 5-3. 

Game three saw the hosts score first in the bottom of the second inning. BC answered to tie it in the third. R. Congi opened the inning with a double and reached third on a groundout. He then scored on a sacrifice fly by J. Congi. However, MUW answered with two more runs in the bottom of the inning. 

Blackburn responded with four runs in the fourth inning to take the lead.  A walk and two singles loaded the bases for Carney who singled to score Harbach. R. Congi followed with a sacrifice fly to score freshman Isaiah Mckenzie. After a single by Moreno, Perez and Carney scored off J. Congi's single to give BC the 5-3 lead. 

BC extended their lead in the next inning when Perez doubled to score Medina and Duran. Unfortunately, the Owls responded with six runs in the sixth and three more in the eighth to win 14-7. 

The Beavers will now head over to Florida for their Spring Break trip where the team begins play Tuesday by taking on North Central University in a doubleheader.