Beavers Suffer Loss To Bears

The Blackburn College baseball team dropped a non-conference game to Washington University-St. Louis on Wednesday afternoon by a score of 8-4. Although it looked like the game might be cancelled due to rain, the sun came out and the 9-inning affair was played in downtown St. Louis.

Starting pitcher Dan Witkus went 3 innings on the hill and only surrendered one earned run which pushed his Earned Run Average to a phenomenal 2.33 on the year. Blackburn knotted up the scoring in the fifth inning on a RBI groundout from sophomore Vinnie Birk. But, the Bears of Wash U battled back and put up one of their own in their half of the fifth off of reliever Kaycee Jones. Jones finished the day with a line of 2 1/3 innings pitched and three runs given up.

Blackburn scored one more in the sixth when junior Cody Flowers drew a bases loaded walk. The Bears got Jose Osorio to pop out to end the threat. In the top of the 9th, the Beavers saw themselves down by a score of 8-2. They would score two more when Franklin Bush reached on an error and on a Matt Mokriakow RBI single. 

Jacob Baalman also pitched in relief. He gave up three earned runs in 2 2/3 innings on the mound. On the day, the Beavers walked an impressive eight times along with the seven base hits. Bush and Mokriakow led the parade, each collecting two hits. 

Blackburn will play a huge three game set against SLIAC rival MacMurray college this weekend. The Beavers will travel to Jacksonville, Ill. on Saturday for a doubleheader and then come back home for a single game on Sunday.