Decatur, Ill. – The Transylvania baseball team put a permanent stamp on a historic day for the program, achieving its first ever NCAA Tournament win with an 11-6 victory over the Illinois College Blueboys on Friday afternoon at Workman Family Baseball Field in the second day of NCAA Regional play.
In its 26th year of existence after the program was revived in the mid-1990s, the Transylvania baseball team won its first NCAA Tournament game in program history with a signature offensive performance that has come to define the best Transylvania baseball team ever fielded.
By eliminating the Blueboys in Friday afternoon's loser's bracket game, the Pioneers clinched their 32nd win of the 2021 campaign to move to 32-11 on the season. The 32 wins are also the most wins in a season by a Transylvania baseball program since the inception of the restarted baseball program in 1996.
Transylvania advanced into the third day of NCAA Tournament play against the loser of tonight's game between Webster and Denison, scheduled for 9:40 p.m. Eastern time.
A milestone day for the Pioneers was replete with an assortment of individual and team achievements embedded in Transylvania's watershed win.
Hudson Chastain became Transylvania's career hits leader on Friday, notching his 215th career hit in the bottom of the fourth inning on a base hit. Chastain tallied three hits on the day to further his record career hit total to 217 by game's end and his single-season record to 83 hits.
Riley Willbur went 1 for 4 from the plate with a walk; the senior's bases on balls was his 31st of the season, establishing Willbur as the single-season walks record holder. Willbur also tied an NCAA record earlier this season for walks in a game with six against Rose-Hulman in April.
Freshman Trent Youngblood led the Pioneers with a banner day, going 4 for 5 with two triples, six RBI, and a walk to ignite two monster innings for Transylvania that allowed the Pioneers to erase an early one-run deficit and stave off an optimistic late charge from Illinois College. Youngblood's four hits increased his season total to 75 as the freshman became just the second player in Transylvania baseball history to reach that mark after Chastain did so last week.
Starter Collin Johnson blanked Illinois College through the first two innings as the Pioneer bats slowly awakened. The Blueboys used a lead-off double in the top of the third couple with an error to plate a lone run on an infield double play.
Against the specter of an ongoing tempest which delayed the start of the game nearly three hours, the Pioneers viciously ended their offensive drought and a 1-0 deficit in the bottom of the fourth inning with a definitive presentation.
Michael Blair kickstarted the engine with a lead-off double into left centerfield and Nick Wade's groundout advanced him to the hot corner. Walter Munday was retired via strikeout, but Matt Broadwater drew a two-out walk and stole second base to put the Pioneers in prime scoring position. Trent Pahl was the second consecutive Pioneer walked to load the bases.
With the bases full, Youngblood did his part to escort the Pioneers into the history books with a bases-clearing triple to give the Pioneers an immediate 3-1 lead. Wade Lopiccolo laid down a textbook bunt to score Youngblood, giving the Pioneers their first lead of the NCAA Regional at 4-1.
The Blueboys responded in the top of the sixth, scoring two runs on a two-out double to cut the deficit to 4-3 and retire Johnson after 5.1 innings composed of four strikeouts against four hits, five walks, and two earned runs conceded. Max Medley held the lead for Transylvania, picking up one crucial out with the inning-ending Illinois College groundout.
A hopeful Blueboys rally was put to rest by the Pioneers in the bottom of the seventh as Transylvania produced its second four-inning explosion of the day. Pahl joined the triple parade with a two-run shot into left field to lengthen the lead back to three runs at 6-3. Youngblood took the baton again with his second triple of the day and his fifth of the season to score Pahl, forging a 7-3 Transy advantage. Chastain chimed in with another hit to drive home Youngblood, putting the Pioneers in the driver's seat for the rest of the day.
Illinois College added one run in the top of the eighth but the Pioneers put together three more runs in the bottom half of the eighth; Broadwater delivered a sacrifice fly RBI and Youngblood added his final two RBI of the day with a two-run single to push the Pioneers to the finish line and a commanding 11-4 stronghold.
The Blueboys found two runs in the top of the ninth but the initial seven-run cushion was too much as Jared Leuthart secured the Pioneers' first NCAA Tournament win by recording the final four outs of the day.
Blair was a force in the win with a 3 for 5 showing at bat and two runs scored. Transylvania outhit Illinois College, 15 to 9 in the elimination tournament contest.
Johnson earned the win to move to 4-0 on the season while the Pioneers surpassed the 2008 squad for most wins in a season. Prior to this campaign, the 2008 Pioneer baseball team was the lone team to make it to an NCAA Tournament.
Transylvania will continue its trek on Saturday against tonight's loser of regional No. 2 seed Webster and No. 3 seed Denison. Transylvania and tonight's losing team are currently scheduled to play at 12 noon Eastern time / 11 a.m. local time on Saturday. The winning team of tomorrow's opening game will play again later on Saturday at approximately 6:00 p.m. as elimination play continues.
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