MT. CARMEL, Ill. – The Vincennes University baseball team faced their toughest test of this young 2023 spring season Tuesday afternoon after traveling to Mt. Carmel to take on NJCAA Division I No. 8-ranked Wabash Valley College.
The Trailblazers got off to another hot start Tuesday afternoon, with leadoff hitter sophomore Ethan Burdette (Linton, Ind.) reaching base on an infield single and advancing to second on a throwing error, one of three hits Burdette would have on the day.
Burdette was then followed by an RBI double by sophomore Kaden Elliott (New Albany, Ind.) to put the Blazers on the board first.
Wabash Valley would answer back in the bottom half of the first, sending all nine batters to the plate and scoring three runs to grab the lead back at 3-1 after 1.
The VU pitching would settle in as VU led off the top of the fourth with freshman Carter Whitehead (Huntingburg, Ind.) reaching on an error and later scoring on a sacrifice fly by Kaden Elliott, giving Elliott two RBIs on the day.
This would be as close as the Trailblazers would get however as the Warriors plated two runs in the fifth, two runs in the sixth and one run in the seventh to pull away late and grab the 8-2 victory over VU.
"Am I happy with today? Yes and no," VU Head Baseball Coach Chris Barney said. "From the standpoint of competing, absolutely. But we've got to play better baseball. Offensively we had a couple of chances there to really break the game open early and really put some pressure on them and unfortunately they did a good job of working themselves out of a couple of jams."
"This game here does make us feel good at the end of the day, but we've still got to play better baseball overall," Barney added. "When we've got chances to win ball games we have to go out and win them."
"Offensively it's all a matter of stringing hits together when the game is on the line," Barney said. "Kaden did a good job today with two RBIs but he also came up with the bases loaded and hit into a double play. So it was just one of those things where he could have had a really big game, instead he had a solid game. But when we get into those tight situations and it's time to step up and be the man, we need someone to take that step."
"But we picked up eight hits today off of some quality pitching, so hopefully today was just getting us ready for this weekend," Barney added.
Freshman Josh McCormick (Indianapolis, Ind.) got the start on the mound for VU. McCormick would throw two innings, allowing three runs on four hits and striking out one.
Freshman Logan Medsker (Marshall, Ill.) was the first out of the pen and pitch two and one third innings, allowing two runs on four hits and striking out two.
Sophomore Caleb Moore (St. Louis, Mo.) was called on to get the final two outs of the fifth and did so in just five pitches. Moore would also get the first out of the sixth for a full inning of work, allowing two runs on one hit and striking out one.
Freshman Xavier Hart (Jeffersonville, Ind.) pitched one and two-thirds innings allowing one run on two hits and striking out two and freshman Holden Clifton (Louisville, Ill.) took over on the mound after playing at third base to pitch the eighth inning, allowing only one hit and throwing nine pitches.
"We've got to get better outings out of the guys on the mound," Barney said. "I thought Logan Medsker did a good job. I thought Caleb Moore came in and did a great job and got three outs for us."
The VU defense also held strong all game, only surrendering one error all game as Vincennes continues to focus on limiting fielding mistakes that provide extra outs for the opponents.
"We've done it all year," Barney said. "With the exception of a missed pick off attempt at second base we were pretty solid defensively and it's a credit to our club, our coaching staff and our players who have bought in to playing good defense. Hopefully that continues for the rest of the year."
The Trailblazers will look to bounce back from this midweek game with another big weekend of games scheduled at Jerry Blemker Field.
VU will host Olney Central College Friday, Feb. 24 at 1 p.m. eastern, before returning to the field Saturday to take on Morton College at 10:30 a.m. eastern and Joliet Junior College at 6 p.m. eastern.
Vincennes will then close out the four-game weekend set with an opponent to be announced on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 1 p.m. eastern.
"Hopefully today gets us ready to play this weekend," Barney said. "Facing quality pitching should get us ready for the weekend and feeling a little bit better about ourselves. It doesn't get any easier for us this weekend. We've got three quality teams coming in and last year I think we went 2-2 against these teams."
"We are going to have to play well and get something out of our pitching staff to help keep this thing rolling into the weekend," Barney added.
BOX SCORE
VU (3-5) – 100 100 000 – 2
Wabash Valley – 300 022 10x – 8
VINCENNES HITTING
2B – Clifton, Elliott. RBI – Elliott 2. HBP – Long, Evans. Sac Fly – Elliott. SB – Clifton.