Mt. Carmel, Ill. – Top-ranked Wabash Valley had its final tune-up for the region and conference schedule ahead on Tuesday.
The Warriors hit five home runs in a 22-1 rout of Vincennes. On the mound, they were just as impressive, with five pitchers combining on a 2-hitter against the Trailblazers.
"I was very pleased," said head coach Rob Fournier. "We had real good at-bats. We put the ball in play and got it up a little bit.
"But I was very happy with the pitching today. We had four guys who all made their college debuts. It was beautiful to see."
WVC (11-1) did not hit the scoring column until the second inning, but once the spigot had been opened, runs gushed out, with crooked numbers posted in each of the next five innings.
Ryan McCoy hit two homers to lead the parade, while Jonathan Nieves, Hylan Hall and Connor Olson added single blasts. Warrior bats also collected three doubles and two triples.
McCoy finished 3-for-3 at the plate, but there were others who were perfect on the day: Hylan Hall and Kyle Westfall each went 2-for-2, while Payton Pennington, Jacob Curtis, Jase Mizell and Braxton Megular finished 1-for-1.
The early-season show of power is starting to be reflected on the NJCAA leaderboard, as the offense now ranks in the Top 10 nationally in three categories: on-base percentage (.516, fifth best), slugging percentage (.647, eighth) and batting average (.392, eighth).
Six different hitters have combined for the Warrior total of 15 homers, headed by McCoy's four. He also leads the team in RBIs with 23.
The pitching staff is also leaving its' mark. Opponents are hitting only .203 against WVC, the eighth-lowest average in NJCAA Division I.
Starting pitcher Isaac Crabb allowed Vincennes' (8-4) only run, an unearned tally in the fourth, and gave the Blazers only two hits. The righthander struck out four and walked one batter.
The four relievers that followed each worked one scoreless, hitless inning. Beau Coffman and Stephen Pelli fanned three hitters each, Mount Carmel freshman Cade Newkirk two and Ryan Sleeper one. One VU batter reached via a walk in each of the last four frames.
WVC opens Region 24 play on Wednesday with a 12-noon doubleheader at Frontier (10-4). The games were moved up one day from Thursday to get ahead of the forecast, which calls for a rainy weekend.
A home-and-home four-game series is scheduled against each Region 24 and/or Great Rivers Athletic Conference opponent this season, most coming on a Thursday-Saturday timeframe. Frontier's trip to Mount Carmel for the follow-up twinbill is scheduled for Saturday.