Strong Start Continues as Baseball Defeats MBU 7-5

CARLINVILLE, IL -- Blackburn College Baseball continued their strong start to the season with a 7-5 victory over Maranatha Baptist University Saturday afternoon. 

In the game, Santos Mercado led the way with two hits and two runs. He hit a double and a triple, and also knocked in a run. 

Senior Royce Congi added two hits plus a run and an RBI. Seniors Gavin Griffith and Brett Lander chipped in with two RBI's. 

On the mound, freshman Quinn Morrow threw a perfect inning as he struck out all three batters he faced. 

The Beavers struck first as the first three batters for Blackburn got on base. Mercado then hit into a fielders choice which allowed Congi to give Blackburn an early 1-0 lead. Maranatha responded in the fourth inning with three runs. 

BC answered in the bottom of the inning. Lander got on after getting hit by a pitch and used passed balls to advance to third. Freshman Derrion Howard knocked him in with a sacrifice fly to make it a 3-2 MBU lead. 

Blackburn took back the lead in the fifth inning. Mercado started the inning with a triple. Freshman Johnny Duran was hit by a pitch then stole second before freshman Ethan Wudy walked to load the bases. Griffith was up next and walked allowing Mercado to score. Lander followed with a single to score both Wudy and Duran. After Howard walked, Congi hit a ball which let Griffith score, giving the hosts a 6-3 lead. 

The sixth innning saw BC extend their lead with a Mercado double to open the inning then scored due to an MBU error on a ball hit by Griffith. 

The Sabrecats added two runs in the seventh but Blackburn closed out the game with shutdown innings in the eighth and ninth to win 7-5. 

With the win, Blackburn is now 10-5 on the season and ties for the most wins in a season since the 2015-16 season. The team returns to St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play Tuesday when they head to Webster University.