WHARTON, Texas – The Blinn baseball team took 3 of 4 games from Wharton County Junior College in its Region XIV Conference series opener Saturday and Sunday.

After sweeping the series-opening doubleheader Saturday at home, 3-1 and 9-3, the Buccaneers split Sunday's games with the Pioneers, winning the first game 9-7 before falling 5-4 in the series finale.

"In Game 1 we came out with the mindset that we had to show up offensively, and I think they did that," Blinn (10-4, 3-1 Region XIV) coach Harvey McIntyre said of Sunday's play. "Our hitters were great. We're disappointed we didn't get the sweep, but at the same time we won a series."

The Bucs offense smashed its way to a 7-0 lead after two innings in Sunday's opener, and made it a 9-0 game by the fifth with the help of RBI hits from Cullen Gassaway.

Gassaway was 3-for-4 with four RBI and three runs scored. Leadoff hitter Jager Toffan was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and Cullen Jozwiak drove in two runs.

But big innings in both games nearly did the Bucs in.

Wharton put together a six-run fifth in the first game to cut Blinn's lead to 9-6. In the second game, a four-run fourth tied the game at 4. The Pioneers took their first lead of the day, 5-4, with a run in the bottom of the sixth.

"We're pitching to the scoreboard there rather than focusing on executing and it came back and hurt us," McIntyre said. "We have to learn from that and allow it to make us better."