VU Baseball Team Takes Home the Win Against Lincoln Trail College

Vincennes University’s baseball team had a successful game Tuesday, April 19 against Lincoln Trail College coming off of a five-game losing streak winning 5-4.

In the first eight innings, the team was trailing behind until the ninth inning when they tied the game 4-4. 

“What people don’t realize is we got a roster of over 30 guys and at this point, we had 20 guys left. We had eight guys that were injured, one suspension, and one guy that ended up being sick that day so we had 20 guys that were eligible to play and actually had to use all of them. When it went into extra innings, we used our 19th guy which was our last pitcher so it was interesting to say the least. I was hoping it wasn’t going to go much longer after that because we didn’t have anyone else left on the bench,” said VU baseball coach Christopher Barney.

According to the Vincennes Athletic page, in the bottom of the tenth inning,  sophomore Dale Coy from Evansville, Indiana, and freshman Jordan Roth from Delphi, scored back-to-back singles, and New Albany, Indiana native and VU freshman Kaden Elliott’s walk-off single led the team to victory.

Pitcher Freshman Jake Stuteville from Rockport, Indiana pitched a “scoreless 10th inning to come away with the winning decision,” according to VU Athletics.

“As a pitcher, I feel it is to trust my defense and the pitches coach Campbell calls. Also to not let the game speed you up, work at your pace and you will be fine,” Stuteville said.

When asked what his favorite moment of the game was, Stuteville said it was when “Jordan Roth and Connor Vanlannen turned the inning-ending double play in the 10th inning.”

With only 20 out of 30 available players and having to use all of them throughout the game, the challenge made the players push to their limits and made the win even more valuable.

“It was a good feeling to come off the field with a win. We needed to get back to feeling what it’s like to win. We were on a five-game losing streak so we are excited to get a [win], ” said Barney. “They worked hard to get to this point, game days are their days, it’s their day to shine, their day to show off all the effort and work they put forth since August, We want to be successful, we want to have fun, we want to do it the right way with some class and dignity.”

The Trailblazers are facing off against Illinois Central in a four-game conference game this weekend on April 23 and 24, in hopes of furthering their winning streak.

“We want to be as successful as we can, and..we want at least two if not three wins this weekend out of the four games that we play and obviously try to go for a clean sweep. We’ve got to play well on all fences of the game, pitching, defense, offense, and minimize the free bases and if we can do that then our chances of success rise greatly, ” said Barney

UPDATE: The VU baseball team reached their goal with two wins this past weekend on April 23 and 24. They took home the wins during the first game of each day but lost their momentum during the second games, tying the conference series with Illinois Central College.