O'Fallon, Mo., May 13, 2021 – The Blue Jay baseball team entered Thursday evenings SLIAC Tournament Quarterfinal matchup with the Greenville University Panthers with a lot of confidence as they were coming off a series win against the same Panthers just three days earlier. Logan Thompson, who has been red hot of late, stayed hot and the Blue Jays rode the strong right arm of Andrew Boessen to a 8-2 win that propelled them into the winners bracket and sets up a showdown Friday afternoon with top seeded Wester University.
The Blue Jays got things started early in the bottom of the first inning as Steven Diaz would single through the right side, Derek Shikles walked and then Payton Whitehead singled sharply to center field to load the bases. The Blue Jays hottest hitter Logan Thompson strode to the plate. The 6'3" left handed power hitting first baseman stayed hot and turned on a fastball and annihilated the ball over the Car Shield Field tall right field wall for a grand slam and a 4-0 lead.
Four runs were all the senior Boessen (4-3) would need. He scattered nine hits giving up just two runs, only one of which was earned, in eight innings. He struck out three and walked only one on the way to his 4th win of the season. Jacob Waeltermann would come in to pitch the ninth inning he would strike out the first two batters before allowing a single. A throwing error allowed the next man to reach before recording the games last out via a fielder's choice as the Blue Jay third baseman Parker Schneiders, playing third for the first time this year, snared a two hopper and got the lead runner unassisted to end the game.
Thompson led the offense once again going 2-3 with the grand slam and a walk. He drove in four runs and scored two himself. Whitehead recorded a three hit night while driving in a run and scoring twice himself. Coltin Green had a line drive single to left that scored a run in the 4th inning and Bryce McKinnon had a big two RBI single to cap the scoring in the same fourth inning.
The Blue Jays will face off with the top seeded Webster University Gorloks on Friday at Shaw Park in Clayton, Mo. The game is scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. first pitch. If the Blue Jays win on Friday they will advance to the pod 1 championship in the winner's bracket on Saturday at Car Shield Field at 1:30 p.m. The loser would play at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night back at Car Shield Field in O'Fallon, Mo. in the play back game with the winner advancing to Saturdays pod Championship. The two pod winners will return to action next weekend at the highest remaining seeds home to play a best of three series to determine the SLIAC Tournament Champion and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
