The Temple College baseball team traveled to Brenham on Wednesday for a highly-anticipated matchup against No. 2 Blinn College.
A Kade Davis three-run homer in game one and a Chase Fricke RBI walk in game two were the lone scoring plays of the twin-bill for Temple. The pitching staff held Blinn to just five runs over 18 innings, four earned, as the Leopards split the doubleheader against the Buccaneers.
Blinn took game one, 5-3, and the TC pitching staff executed an 11-inning shutout, 1-0.
Davis' homer in the top of the third scored Kash Millar and Yarel Delgado to give the Leopards a 3-0 lead.
Blinn answered with three runs in the fourth inning to tie the game, and added two more in the bottom of the sixth to clinch the win.
Davis had three of Temple's six hits in the contest.
Tobin Eschief pitched four innings in the start, allowed three runs (two earned) on two hits, struck out six, walked two, and hit a batter. Landon Miller took the loss in relief, allowed two runs on two hits, walked two, and struck out one.
The second game was a pitchers' duel in every sense of the term. Both teams stymied at the plate for a combined 24 strikeouts
Thomas Perez struck out Reece Lunsford with a runner on third base in the bottom of the tenth to set up Temple's rally in the 11th.
With one out, Cameron Bartz and Kash Millar singled off Blinn reliever Corby Wagoner. Davis singled to right field. Blinn's Brady Sullivan came up throwing, and Bartz was tagged out at the plate for the second out.
Ryan Hunter walked to load the bases for Fricke. Blinn lifted Wagoner for left-hander Landon Bowden to pitch to Fricke to set up a left-on-left matchup. A full-count walk scored Millar to nudge the Leopards out front by a run.
Henderson dodged two hits in the Blinn side of the 11th with no outs, and runners at second-and-third situation with one out. He got a strikeout and groundout to pick up the save.
Davis picked up two of Temple's five hits in the game, and five of the Leopards' 11 hits in the twin-bill.
Peyton Reynolds pitched six solid innings of one-hit ball, having struck out three, hit two batters, and walked one. Perez pitched four inning of two-hit ball and struck out five.
The Leopards will host Navarro College on Friday at 2 pm at the Danny Scott Sports Complex.