Bouts of fatigue might have begun to settle in Sunday for the Blinn baseball team, but the Buccaneers weren't going to let that affect them from capping off a successful weekend.
Blinn split a doubleheader in the final day of the Blinn Tournament with a 9-5 loss to New Mexico Junior College and a 10-0 win against Temple Junior College.
"We knew going in today it was going to be a gut-check for our guys after a long day yesterday," Blinn (5-2) coach Harvey McIntyre said. "But they gave us their best effort, and I'm very, very proud with the way they finished."
After Blinn beat New Mexico in the tournament opener, 10-1, on Saturday, New Mexico put on the hurt offensively.
"They didn't come here to get swept," McIntyre said.
New Mexico put up four runs in the first two innings, and after Blinn cut into that lead to make it 4-3, the Thunderbirds responded with a four-run inning to pull away.
New Mexico jumped on Blinn starting pitcher Keith Brenner six hits and five earned runs in 3 2-3 innings.
"I thought Keith pitched well, he just didn't make enough pitches with two strikes," McIntyre said.
The Bucs pitching staff kept Temple in check all game. Seth Ballew, who was coming off a rough outing against Frank Phillips College the previous weekend, responded with a four-hit outing against Temple. Ballew struck out nine in six innings.
"Seth really bounced back and pitched very hungry tonight," McIntyre said. "We got to see what he's made of tonight."
The Blinn offense bounced back, too.
Blinn scored at least a run in six innings—including a three-run seventh—and five players had two hits.
Freshmen Stephen Stuart and Cullen Jozwiak were 2-for-4 with two RBI. James Duval, batting in the two-hole, scored three runs in a 2-for-5 game.
With a 3-1 weekend—including a 2-1 win over fifth-ranked Navarro on Saturday—and a 5-2 overall record, McIntyre is pleased with the way the Bucs have answered a majority of the preseason questions to this point in the season.
"You look at the schedule in the fall and you think, 'Man, we're going to be walking around with a lot of questions or a whole lot of answers.' We got a lot of answers this weekend. It was really good to see them play the way they did," he said.
