Blinn College took a doubleheader sweep over Lamar State College Port Arthur on Friday afternoon, dropping the Seahawks by scores of 6-1 and 12-3 at Martin Field in LSCPA's conference home opener.
The Seahawks are now 2-6 in NJCAA Region 14 South Zone play and 11-14 overall as they ready themselves for San Jacinto College-South on Saturday afternoon. That conference doubleheader starts at 1 p.m. at Martin Field.
Once again, the Buccaneers jumped out early, leaving the Seahawks playing catchup. Blinn College went up 5-0 after the top half of the second inning, though LSCPA managed to cut that lead to 5-2 with two in the bottom half of the stanza.
Sophomore Taylor Frederick led off the second with a walk for the Seahawks, followed by a double by Saenz, leaving runners at second and third.
Freshman Brooke Smith doubled a 2-and-2 pitch to center field, scoring two and bringing the Hawks to within three at 5-2. The Hawks couldn't muster anything more with back-to-back strikeouts ending the threat with Smith standing at second.
Blinn added a run in the fourth inning with LSCPA answering with a run in the bottom of the sixth.
Hunt singled to open the sixth and Frederick followed later with a one-out single to put runners at first and third. Saenz once again stepped up, picking up the run-scoring single on the next at-bat to plate Hunt for a 6-3 difference.
Smith singled to load the bases for the Seahawks but once again, back-to-back strikeouts spelled the end of the offensive threat.
The momentum was completely lost when Blinn's leadoff hitter in the top of the seventh inning tripled, followed by a single, triple, single, single and double before LSCPA could muster its first out of the inning. By the time the seventh inning concluded, the Buccaneers held a 12-3 lead.
Saenz finished the game 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored, while Smith was 2 for 2 with two RBIs. Espitia, Saenz and Smith each had doubles.
Espitia absorbed the loss on the hill, allowing six earned runs on 11 hits over 3.1 innings of work. Freshman Kassandra Vargas allowed three earned runs on five hits in 2.2 innings of work, while Saenz worked the final inning on the mound, allowing three runs, two earned, on three hits.