Lexington, Ky. – The Transylvania baseball team advanced to the next round of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament with an 8-2 victory over the Defiance College Yellow Jackets on Saturday afternoon in game two of the best-of-3 opening round series at Legends Ballpark.
Taking game one the previous night from Defiance in 11 thrilling innings, the Pioneers completed the two-game sweep of Defiance to move into the final round of the HCAC Baseball Championships, a five-team double-elimination format tournament set to begin on Thursday, May 20.
Trent Youngblood, who earned the game one win on the mound on Friday night, spurred a simmering Transylvania attack on Saturday, going 4 for 5 from the lead-off spot to clinch the victory for the Pioneers.
Starter Evan Hall and reliever Collin Johnson collaborated for 8.2 consistent innings atop the hill to hold Defiance in check as the Pioneers collected the wire-to-wire victory.
Transylvania moved to 28-10 overall while Defiance saw its season end at 6-33.
Youngblood quickly spotted the Pioneers a lead in the first inning with a lead-off single. Wade Lopiccolo moved the freshman over to second with a walk; Hudson Chastain grounded into a double play, moving Youngblood to third. Youngblood came home on a passed ball as the Pioneers moved in front at 1-0.
After Hall struck out two for a pinpoint second inning, Transy went back to work in the bottom of the frame. Michael Blair led off with a double and Devyn Wilson-Cowan and Trent Pahl each provided walks to load the bases with two outs. Youngblood delivered again with a two-run single into centerfield to bring home Wilson-Cowan and Blair to the tune of a 3-0 Transylvania lead.
Pahl delivered his fourth home run of the season in the fourth inning to raise Transy's lead to 4-0. The Yellow Jackets sliced away at the Pioneer lead with a two-run single in the fifth, making for a 4-2 ballgame, but Johnson entered the game in the sixth and struck out four batters over the next two innings to snuff any hopes of a more significant rally by the Yellow Jackets.
Youngblood's third hit of the game came in the seventh on a lead-off single and he later arrived at home plate on a wild pitch, stretching the Pioneer margin back to three runs at 5-2.
Youngblood recorded his 61st hit of the season and fourth of the game in the following inning on an RBI single to centerfield. Lopiccolo punctuated the inning with a two-run base hit to send the Pioneers into the next round with a commanding 8-2 lead after eight innings.
Hudson Chastain tied his own program record for single season hits, registering his 70th of the season on an infield base hit in the bottom of the eighth inning. Youngblood's 61 hits currently ranks sixth all time in a season for most hits by a Pioneer.
Hall went 4.2 innings and struck out four while walking one and allowing three hits. Johnson claimed his second win of the season to move his record to 2-0 off six strikeouts, one walk issued, no earned runs allowed, and three hits yielded. Wilson-Cowan and Pahl joined Youngblood with multi-hit games on Saturday.
As the top seed in the HCAC Tournament, Transylvania will host the double-elimination tournament. Start times and locations for the final round matchups will be officially announced later this weekend via TransySports.com and HeartlandConf.org.
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