Month: February 2025

Apprentice Sweeps MACU to Improve to 4-0

HAMPTON – The Apprentice School baseball team opened up New South Athletic Conference play Tuesday by sweeping MACU, 10-0 and 4-2.

In the opening game of the twinbill, the Builders pushed a run across in the second on a Jett Winslow RBI single before the wheels fell off for the Mustangs in the third. Apprentice scored nine runs in the frame, pushing them across on just three hits and two MACU errors. Winslow was the highlight of the frame with a bases-clearing double that pushed the score out to 5-0 at the time.

In game two, it was much more of a pitcher’s duel. The Builders struck in the bottom of the first on a Matt Phoebus RBI double followed by another Winslow RBI single to take the early 2-0 lead.

MACU answered in the fourth, getting runners on base and pushing two across off an RBI groundout and a single to tie the game at 2-2. After a scoreless fifth frame, Apprentice got the final word in the sixth as they found a pair of runs to get to the final score. Nate Yeary brought home Winslow on a single to take the lead before Mason Cox got a sacrifice fly to push Hunter Johnson across home plate.

Winslow finished the day 3-for-6 at the plate with five RBI and two runs scored.

Story courtesy Apprentice Athletics; image courtesy Kaitlyn Olson @shotsbyk8lyn

JMU Drops Series at #1 Blinn

BRENHAM, Tx. – A sixth-inning outburst in game one, an offensive onslaught in game two, and spectacular pitching across both ends of the twin bill helped NJCAA top-ranked Blinn College baseball sweep John Melvin University on Saturday at Leroy Dreyer Field.

The Buccaneers picked up 5-1 and 8-4 victories to sweep the doubleheader and the four-game series from the Millers.

“Staying locked in and ready to go in each game during a four-game series can be tough,” Blinn head coach Dusty Hart said, “but I thought our guys did a great job of doing what was required of them to win.”

Blinn moved to 10-3 on the year and pushed its season-high winning streak to five games.

The Bucs dominated the series against John Melvin, outscoring the visitors 30-6 while their pitching staff racked up 45 strikes and a five-inning no-hitter (thrown by Hayden Morris on Friday).

Blinn never wavered Saturday, even when the opener proved to be a challenge for the Bucs’ capable offense.

Blinn sophomore starting pitcher Bennett Fryman and sophomore relief pitcher Hunter Bond combined for six scoreless innings, all of which were needed as John Melvin starter Bryce O’Quinn carried a shutout of his own into the home half of the sixth.

Fryman allowed one hit and three walks to go with seven strikeouts across four innings of work. Bond – who earned the victory – followed with two hits allowed, two strikeouts, and one walk.

“That was a great job from those two guys,” Hart said. “With our offense struggling early, for those guys to go out and match zeroes with O’Quinn was crucial for our chances to get the win.”

Blinn finally got to O’Quinn in the sixth when sophomore Matt Quintanar kept the inning alive with a two-out single. Freshman Trey Craig then came to the plate and blasted a two-run home run to center field.

Freshmen Drew Britton and Benji Berrera followed with back-to-back singles and sophomore Lane Allen cleared the bases with a three-run shot of his own to make it 5-0.

“It took us a little while to get going, but once we did, we kept that momentum through the second game, which was great to see,” Hart added.

Sophomore pitcher Dillon Henson got two outs in the seventh, and freshman Jack Garza came on to punch out the final Millers hitter of the game.

For the game, Blinn totaled eight hits, including two apiece for Quintanar and sophomore Ethan Gonzalez.

The Bucs stepped on the gas pedal early and often in game two, and also got a key pitching performance to help stave off John Melvin.

The Millers got on the board first with a run in the first frame, only for Blinn to answer with three runs of its own in the home half.

A sacrifice fly off the bat of Fryman and a two-run single from Allen gave the Bucs a 3-1 advantage. Quintanar made it 4-1 with an RBI single in the second.

The Millers threatened in the third against Blinn starter Reece Wagner, putting the first four hitters of the inning on base to make it a 4-2 ballgame.

With the bases loaded and no outs, reliable freshman relief pitcher Cadyn Shaw entered for the Bucs and promptly escaped what could have been a game-changing inning for John Melvin. He induced a run-scoring double play and a ground out to third to limit the damage.

“That was a huge moment for Cadyn, one that never got too big for him,” Hart said. “That inning could have gone entirely different for us and changed the outcome of the game, but Cadyn went in there and shut them down.”

Following Shaw’s clutch performance, Fryman gave his team a bit of insurance with a no-doubt leadoff homer to start Blinn’s half of the inning.

Britton followed with a double and came around to score on a wild pitch.

Britton and Allen smacked consecutive RBI singles in the fourth to make it 8-3.

John Melvin got one back in the seventh.

Sophomore pitcher Paxton Terveen provided two innings of two-hit relief for Blinn in which he struck out four Millers, and freshman Hudson Melaerts closed out the game by striking out five across the final two frames.

The Bucs’ lineup pounded out 10 hits, led by a three-hit, three-RBI showing for Allen. Fryman and Britton finished with two hits apiece.

Story courtesy buccaneersports.com; Photo by 🇻🇪 Jose G. Ortega Castro 🇲🇽 on Unsplash

Trojans Swept in Opening Series

ATLANTA – The Virginia State baseball team traveled down to Clark Atlanta for a three-game series which saw the Panthers win all three games. On February 1, the teams played a doubleheader with the Trojans losing 3-1 and 11-0, then on Sunday CAU emerged victorious 9-3 in a nine-inning game. 

GAME 1 VSU 1 CAU 3 

  • Both pitchers were cruising through the first five innings. Gavin Stevens struck out seven batters in five innings 
  • Then in the top of the sixth Thomas Ealey singled to the pitcher and stole second with only one out; he then advanced to third after a ground out. TJ McGowan then reached on a throwing error allowing Ealy to score 
  • In the bottom of the sixth CAU hit three straight singles to even up the score at one. Then a steal of second and a walk loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly to center brought another run across followed by a single made it 3-1 going into the seventh 
  • To start the seventh Jaquan Tucker doubled to center, but three straight ground out to short ended the game 

GAME 2 VSU 0 CAU 11 

  • Both teams were scoreless in the first. In the bottom of the second a CAU triple brought in the first run before Ealey struck out the next two batters to escape the inning 
  • In the third CAU added three more runs. After that the Trojan pitching staff would hold the Panthers off the board 
  • In the bottom of the sixth Clark Atlanta exploded for seven runs 

Game 3 VSU 3 CAU 9 

  • In the first inning Ealey singled followed by a Jaden Guthrie single got runners on first and second, then an error allowed both to move up a base however the Panthers would get three straight outs to escape the jam 
  • Clark Atlanta would add a run in the second and then three in the third  
  • Victor Johnson would hit a one out single up the middle before Marquis Smith walked. McGowan would then hit a double to deep left field to plate both 
  • Clark Atlanta would double up their run total in the bottom of the fifth 
  • In the top of the seventh Juluis Turner reached via an error. Ealey then hit a two out single to advance Turner to third. Guthrie then walked to load the bases, but a balk on the next batters let all the runners advance and allowed Turner to score. Tucker then walked to re-load the bases, but a strike out ended the scoring opportunity  
  • CAU would one more run in the eighth inning and the Trojans would go down in the top of the ninth 

Story and image courtesy govsutrojans.com