The 10th-ranked Blinn College baseball team completed a season series victory over Alvin Community College with a Region XIV South Zone twin bill sweep of the Dolphins on Saturday in Alvin, Texas.
The Buccaneers prevailed 14-3 in a seven-inning opener before earning a 12-5 win in game two.
Blinn jumped to 29-9 overall and 16-5 in the South.
"It was a really good day on the road," Buccaneers head coach Dusty Hart said. "Getting two wins on the road is not easy to do at all; I don't care who you're playing, it's just harder to win on the road. We played about as well as we could today."
Sophomore pitcher Sam Crain (3-1) returned to a starting role and shined with five innings of two-run ball. He allowed just one earned run on six hits with a walk and nine strikeouts. Freshmen Cody Pfeffer and Tyler Bogusz tossed the sixth and seventh innings, respectively, to close out the win.
"Getting Sam back is big," said Hart. "He was really good today. He has some of the better stuff on our team … a great fastball and breaking ball; everything moves. We made some really big plays on defense behind him, too."
With the Buccaneer pitching staff taming the Dolphin offense, Blinn's bats did the rest with nine hits and 13 walks.
Freshman Tanner Reaves smacked a solo home run – his ninth – in the fourth inning for a 4-1 lead, while sophomore Ian Collier hit a grand slam in the sixth followed by a three-run bomb for sophomore Cam Wheeler in the seventh.
(Pictured: Blinn sophomore pitcher Sam Crain delivers a pitch during a game against Baton Rouge on Feb. 4)
Blinn led just 4-2 after five innings but tallied 10 runs across the final two frames.
"We just kept grinding out at bats, and it was one of those days where we showed our toughness a bit," Hart stated. "It can be human nature to go to the plate and try to do too much, but these kids aren't forcing it. You can't force a pitch to be a strike out of the pitcher's hand; you have to get a good pitch to hit, which is easier said than done. So, it just shows you the kind of guys we have up and down the lineup and in the dugout. It takes a gritty group of dudes to go out and be unselfish and show patience."
Reaves finished with two hits and three RBI to go with three walks and three runs scored. Freshman Jake Kolkhorst had two RBIs.
Seven Buccaneers finished with a hit and eighth had at least one walk.
In game two, Blinn again put on a display of discipline as they totaled 11 walks to go with seven hits.
The Buccaneer offense currently leads NJCAA Division I baseball with 276 walks.
Lipsey had two hits, including a double, to go with three RBIs, two runs and two free passes. Freshman Matt Whitting went 2 for 4 with three RBIs. Reaves tripled and scored. Freshman Brandon Bishop drove in two runs and finished with a single. Kolkhorst drew three walks, scored three times and plated a run.
Alvin was within 6-5 heading into the seventh inning, but Blinn tallied four runs in the top of the seventh before tacking on insurance runs in the eighth and ninth.
"We made mistakes, but instead of letting them affect us, we just kept playing," Hart said. "Good teams let things go, and that's when you're at your best. When you're able to let things go and keep playing hard, good things will happen."
Blinn used six pitchers in the win, with Pfeffer (2-2) earning the decision after tossing a scoreless seventh and eighth inning.
Up next, the Bucs welcome South Zone rival San Jacinto College-North to town for the start of a four-game series. The two teams will meet at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4, at Leroy Dreyer Field in Brenham, Texas.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
