Blackburn Highlights Last Series with Walk-off Home Runs

CARLINVILLE, IL – Blackburn College Baseball highlighted their final weekend of the 2025-26 season with a walkoff victory in the ninth inning of the opening game against Spalding University.

The Beavers captured the first game of the three-game series with a 6-5 victory but fell to the Golden Eagles 11-7 in the 12^th inning of the second game and 2-1 in the final game of the season.

Sophomore Jordan Kelly led the BC offense with six hits, five runs batted in and scored two runs. He finished the weekend with two doubles and a home run while batting .462.

Senior Harley Carney and Luke Ellinger had five hits each. Carney scored three runs while Ellinger added a run and two rbi's.

Seniors Brett Lander and Royce Congi, and freshman Santos Mercado chipped in with three hits. Congi posted two home runs, Mercado scored two runs with an rbi and Lander scored a run and had an rbi.

On the mound, sophomore Cole Ellis threw a team-best four strikeouts in four innings of work. Freshman Rudy Hinijosa had three strikeouts in seven innings. Senior Kelton Keran threw a complete game and allowed just two runs in nine innings.

The series opener saw Spalding take a 5-0 lead after the second inning but the Blackburn defense shut down the Golden Eagles offense and didn't allow anymore runs. Offensively, the team chipped away at their deficit in the fourth inning with two runs.

Mercado doubled and go to third on a fielder's choice by freshman Jeremy Mazariegos. Junior Diego Perez followed with a single to left field to score Mercado and  Mazariegos scored thanks to an Ellinger single, moving the score to 5-2.

In the fifth inning, Kelly singled to right field to score Carney. The eighth saw BC make it 5-4 when Mercado scored on a balk.

Blackburn took advantage of back to back home runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the game. After an out, Congi came up and hit his fourth career home run to tie the game. Kelly followed by hitting his second homer of the season and gave the Beavers the 6-5 win.

Spalding jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second game before BC scored one in the third when Carney scored off Kelly's double to left field.

The guests responded with a run in the fourth but Blackburn answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Mazariegos reach first on an error and reached second on a Ellinger single. Lander then singled to left to score Mazariegos. Carney helped load the bases with a bunt before Congi walked to score Ellinger. With bases still loaded, Kelly singled to center field which scored Carney and Lander and gave Blackburn the 5-4 lead.

Spalding scored a run in the fifth and three runs in the sixth to go ahead 7-5 before Blackburn scored runs in the seventh and the eighth to tie the game at 7-7. In the seventh, Ellinger singled to left and scored Mazariegos who got on with an error. Congi hit another home run in the eighth which helped force extra innings. Unfortunately, the Golden Eagles were able to score four runs in the 12^th inning to take the 11-7 win.

The teams returned to action for the final game of the series, but Spalding captured the 2-1 victory. SU scored in the first and the sixth to go ahead 2-0. In the bottom of the sixth, Kelly doubled and then scored on Mercado's single down the left field line. However, Blackburn was unable to add another run.

With the conclusion of the game, the 2026 Blackburn Baseball season comes to a close. The team finished with 16 wins, the most wins in a season since a 20-win season in 2027.