Friday February 2, 2024
Baton Rouge: Baseball
The Baton Rouge Bears opened their weekend series this afternoon, at Pete Goldsby Field, against the #4 Blinn College Buccaneers. The Bucs would sweep the day's games against the Bears. The Bucs would rally late, in game one, to earn the 16-8 victory over the Bears. The Bucs would use an offensive explosion, in game two, to defeat the Bears 14-2, in the seventh inning.
Game One
The game started out as an offensive explosion, but it settled in to be a great pitching duel between the two ball clubs. Blinn College Bucs would rally late to earn the 16-8 victory over the Baton Rouge Bears.
Blinn College Bucs would get on the board first via a three-run homerun to right field by C. DeFury to take the early advantage, 3-0. The Bears would respond, in the bottom of the inning, when Tanner Hornback would hit a solo homerun to left field. After one inning, the Bucs led the Bears 3-1.
The Bucs would repeat their first inning success when T. Reaves would hit a three-run homerun to right field to increase their lead over the Bears to 6-1. In the bottom of the second inning, Barrett Hebert would lead off with a single, move to second on a wild pitch and score on Bucs fielding error. John Touchet would each on an error by the Bucs' shortstop, then Braden Corkern would reach on the Bucs Pitcher's error. Runners would move up 90 feet when the Bucs attempted to throw out Touchet at second, but the throw would go into centerfield. Shea Pitre would walk then steal second. Braden McLin would follow Pire with a walk to load the bases. Touchet would score on a wild pitch. Jackson Martin would hit a bloop single to right field driving in Pitre and McLin. Tanner Hornback would stay hot, at the plate, as he would hit a bloop single to centerfield scoring Martin. The Bears scored 5 runs on 3 hits, in the second inning, to tie the game at six runs apiece.
For the next three inning the Bears and Bucs pitchers were the show. Both pitchers kept the other team out of sync at the plate.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Bucs would scratch across a run on a throwing error by the Bear' catcher trying to catch the runner stealing third.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Tanner Hornback would reach by being hit by a pitch and he would score on a Ryan Richard double to left field. The game would again be tied at 7 at the end of seven innings.
The Bucs would erupt for five runs, in the eighth inning, to regain the lead over the Bears 12-7. The Bucs would add four more runs, in the ninth inning, to increase their lead to 16-7 over the Bears. The Bears would continue to fight till the end of the game. Matthew Reinholtz led off, the ninth inning, with single to centerfield followed by a single by Brady Neyland to put Bears on the corners. Ryan Richard would single to right field driving in Reinholtz. The Bears would fall short on their comeback attempt as they fall 16-8 to the Bucs.
Reid Godchaux started on the mound for the Bears. Godchaux pitched four innings allowing 6 runs on 5hits while walking 2 and striking out 5. Caden Durand took the loss for the Bears. He pitched 3 innings allowing 2 runs, 1 earned on 1 hit while allowing 1 walk and striking out 6. Caden Durand (3.0 innings), Jack Cowan (.2 innings), Jaxon Adams (1.1) pitched in relief for the Bears. Shane Connell started on the mound for the Buccaneers. He pitched two innings allowing 6 runs on 5 hits while striking out 3 and walking 2. J. Kolkhorst (4.0 innings), C. Pfeffer (2.0 innings) and T. Calcote (1.0 innings) pitched in relief for the Bucs. J. Kolkhorst earned the victory for the Bucs.
Both teams had 11 hits in the game. Both teams also committed 2 errors in the ballgame.
Game one Bears Highlights
Brady Neyland went 1 for 1.
Jackson Martin went 1 for 4 with 1 run and 2 RBIs.
Tanner Hornback went 2 for 3 with 2 runs, 2 RBIs and 1 homer (1st collegiate homerun).
Ryan Richard went 2 for 5 with 2 RBIs and 1 double.
Barrett Hebert went 1 for 4 with 1 run.
John Touchet went 1 for 4 with 1 run.
Lane Patin went 1 for 4.
Matthew Reinholtz went 1 for 1 with 1 RBI.
Game Two
In game two, the Bears could not contain the offensive fire power of the Blinn Buc thus falling 14-1 in seven inning run rule.
The Bucs would get on the board first when C. Defury singled to centerfield driving in C. Benavidez would led off with a single. C Climie would follow up with a two-run homer to left field. The Bucs would then load the bases and score another run on a sacrifice fly to right field to take a 4-0 lead. The Bucs would tact on 5 more runs, in the second inning, to take a commanding 9-0 lead over the Bears. Blinn College would tact on another run, in the third inning, to increase their lead over the Bears to 10-0.
Both teams would be held scoreless for the next two innings. The Bucs would add to their lead, in the sixth inning with a run; 11-0. The Bears would finally scratch across a run, in the bottom of the sixth inning, when Shea Pitre would lead off and reach by being hit by a pitch. Pitre would advance to second on a wild pitch and he would score on an Aidan Machado single to centerfield for the Bears first run of the game.
Blinn would add three more runs to their lead, in the seventh inning, to take a 14-1 lead. T. Vaughns would hit a two-run homer to left field for 2 of the Bucs' 3 runs in the inning. The Bears would go down in order in the seventh inning thus falling 14-1 to the Bucs in a seven-inning run rule.
Allen Johnson started on the mound for the Bears. Johnson earned the loss for the Bears. He pitched 1.1 inning allowing 6 runs on 5 hits while walking 3 and striking out 1. Colin McDonald (1.2 innings), Ethan Quebodeaux (1.0 inning) and Ian Johnson (3.0 innings) pitched in relief for the Bears. R. Scott started on the mound for the Bucs. He pitched four innings for the victory.
Blinn College outhit Baton Rouge 14 to 5. Both teams did not commit and error in the ballgame.
Bears Game Two Highlights
Jackson Martin went 1 for 2.
Tanner Hornback went 1 for 2 with 1 RBI.
Dillion Bird went 1 for 2 with his first collegiate base hit.
Seth Fontenot went 1 for 2
With the pair of losses the Bears fell to 0-5, while the Bucs improved to 3-1 on the season. Blinn College leads the overall series with 9 wins and 0 losses against Baton Rouge.
The Bears and the Bucs will return to action tomorrow Saturday February 3, 2024, at 1 pm at Pete Goldsby Field, depending on weather conditions in the area.
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