The Westminster baseball team split with Greenville College in their final regular season games. The Westminster Blue Jays dropped game one, 1-0, but bounced back to win game two 8-1. They end the regular season with a 21-10 overall record and a 16-6 conference record.
Greenville won game one 1-0 with the lone run coming from the third inning. The Blue Jays were in scoring position three times throughout the game, but were unable to produce a run.
Junior Deion Hughes (7-2) suffered the loss at the mound after pitching the complete game. He struck out seven while allowing just one run.
The Blue Jays were held to just three hits with one each coming from freshman Blake Strebler, junior Tyler Branneky and senior Tim Chambliss, and Chambliss and freshman Nick Bohlmann each had a sacrifice hit.
The Blue Jays bounced back and won game two 8-1. They scored their first run in the first inning off a sacrifice fly by Chambliss to score senior Cam Backes.
The Blue Jays scored their second run on another sacrifice fly in the third inning by Ty. Branneky to score sophomore Connor Hager. Freshman Chris Asher scored in the fourth inning on a RBI by sophomore Tanner Branneky to bring the score to 3-0. The Blue Jays had bases loaded with two outs, but were unable to grab any more runs in the inning.
Greenville scored one run in the fifth inning off a throwing error by the Blue Jays to put themselves on the board.
The Blue Jays added two runs in the bottom of the fifth with Chambliss' RBI double to score Ty. Branneky and Bohlmann's RBI to score Chambliss. In the seventh inning, the team added three more runs to bring the score to 8-1. Greenville walked in the first run, and with bases loaded, Ta. Branneky singled to bring in Asher and Chambliss.
The Blue Jays held Greenville to no hits in the final two innings to win the game 8-1.
Junior pitcher Will Miller kept his record perfect from the mound with his sixth win. He pitched eight innings, struck out nine batters, and allowed just three hits and one run. Junior Collin Brinker pitched the final inning.
The Blue Jays outhit Greenville 10-3. Hager led the offense with three hits on four at bats and a run scored. Ta. Branneky finished with three runs batted in, and junior A.C. Long led the Blue Jay defense with ten putouts.
The Blue Jays have secured a spot in post season play as the #2 seed from the west division. The St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) Tournament begins on Thursday, May 7.
