Lexington, Ky. – The Transylvania baseball team rang in the double-elimination portion of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference with a sizzling 20-3 win over the Bluffton University Beavers on Thursday evening at Kentucky Proud Park.
The Pioneers blasted off to a 4-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back, vaulting into the winners' bracket for a 2:00 p.m. Friday matchup against No. 3 seed Earlham, who beat No. 2 seed Franklin earlier in the day.
Transylvania improved to 29-10 on the season while the Beavers fell to 19-23 and were relegated to the losers' bracket; the Beavers opened up Thursday with a resounding 11-3 win over No. 4 seed Anderson but were unable to cap off the night with a second successive victory.
Hudson Chastain broke his own Pioneer program record with a lead-off triple to right centerfield in the seventh inning for his 71st hit of the season, surpassing his 70 hits as a sophomore during the 2019 campaign. The senior was one of nine Pioneers to deliver a hit on Thursday as Transylvania blistered the Beavers for 19 hits.
Trent Youngblood raised his own hits total to 66 on the season with a career-high 5 for 7 performance at the plate for Transylvania. Youngblood laced a double, four singles, and two RBI in the signature offensive performance.
Youngblood's 66 hits currently stand as the third-highest amount of hits in a season by a Transylvania baseball player, trailing only Chastain's outputs from the 2019 season and his current campaign.
The Pioneers struck first on a successfully executed double steal as Youngblood crossed the plate, forecasting his big night for a 1-0 Pioneer lead. Nick Wade delivered the first big blow of the game with a triple to right centerfield to score Chastain and Michael Blair. Devyn Wilson-Cowan scored Wade for the first of his five RBI on the night, placing the Pioneers ahead at 4-0.
The Beavers found one run against Transy starter Jake Schmidt in the top of the third but the senior held Bluffton at bay with eight hits scattered over seven innings. The senior rang up four Beaver hitters to improve his record to 8-0 on the season.
With the Pioneers carrying a 5-1 lead into the fifth inning, Wilson-Cowan sent a moonshot grand slam beyond the left field fence to give the Pioneers a commanding 9-1 advantage. The Pioneers' offense only intensified as they plated one run in the fourth inning, four in the fifth courtesy of Wilson-Cowan's seventh home run of the season, three in the sixth, seven in the seventh, and one more in the eighth.
The 20 runs matched Transy's season high for single-game runs, also set on April 25 against Franklin.
Ty Conner and Caleb Neal each completed an inning apiece on the mound to close out the Beavers; the duo combined for two hits yielded, no runs allowed, and one strikeout to sew up the first win of the second week of the HCAC Tournament.
Riley Willbur went 2 for 4 with a walk while Wilson-Cowan went 3 for 5 at the plate. Matt Broadwater tallied two hits, two RBI, and one walk and Wade Lopiccolo tallied two hits, two RBI, and a walk. Wilson-Cowan and Wade each tallied a career-high five RBI apiece in Thursday's tournament contest.
Transylvania now looks ahead to a Friday afternoon showdown with Earlham at Kentucky Proud Park. The winner advances to Saturday afternoon's 2:00 p.m. championship game with two chances to clinch the championship win.
For more on Transylvania baseball, follow @TransyBaseball on Twitter
