With a 10-9 clipping of Dana College in a single 9-inning game Saturday, the Tabor College baseball team evened its record at 8-8.
The Bluejays had reached .500 for the first time this season with a 13-5 win over Dana in the first half of Friday?s doubleheader. Dana won the second game 7-2.
Tabor trailed Saturday?s game 1-0, 2-1 and 4-2 before breaking out a 5-run sixth to grab an 8-5 lead. Dana answered with a 4-run seventh, but allowed the Bluejays to tie it at 9-9 in the eighth and win on their last out in the ninth.
Paul Bridenbaugh came on in relief starting the top of the eighth and threw two shutout innings?scattering a walk and three hits amid four strikeouts?to earn the win.
Andrew Cook started for Tabor and lasted five innings and was relieved by Travis Schafer and Brad Zewe. Only one of the four runs scored against Zewe was earned.
Hitting seventh in the order, first baseman Mike Chaput powered the Bluejays offense with four RBI on one hit?a sixth-inning home run.
Left fielder Ryan Boucher drew three walks and scored three times. He slugged a triple for one of his two hits, and drove in two runs.
Friday, Tabor roughed up starting pitcher John Ocken and jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning of the first game, but allowed the visitors to take the lead with a four-run second and a score in the top of the fourth.
Before Ocken recorded an out in the fourth, Tabor tacked on four more earned runs for an 8-5 lead. The next inning Bluejays scored five more against relief pitcher Mike Tomlinson and cruised to victory.
Tabor starter Wes Stancher recorded 10 outs on 49 pitches, and Quinton Smith came from the bullpen to get the win, sitting down 11 of the 13 batters he faced.
Bluejays catcher Tyson Kendrick jolted the offense to life with a homer and four RBI, while three three others drove in two runs apiece: shortstop CJ Hendrickson, right fielder Clayton Kessler, and Chaput each had a single and a double in the contest.
The Bluejays led the second game 2-0 after the first inning, but the bats fell silent as Dana outscored Tabor 7-0 over the last six innings.
Tyler Fenton threw all seven innings for the Bluejays, striking out five with no walks while allowing 10 hits.
The Bluejays mustered just five hits in the contest: doubles by Kendrick and Cook, and singles by Hendrickson, Kendrick and Kessler. Tabor recorded 10 strikeouts against Dana?s combination of Matt Weeks and Anthony Teal.
Coming?Tabor hosted Manhattan Christian in a 9-inning game Tuesday (March 10), and opens conference play Saturday at Saint Mary. The Bluejays host Dordt College at 2 p.m. Tuesday (March 17).
