By: SARAH WHITEHEAD
@smwhitehead96
Now, March 20, 2016, will be a date that goes down in Titan Athletics history.
The weather was almost perfect, even though some people in the crowd were covered in blankets. The sun was shining, and the IU South Bend Titans were ready to play a game of baseball.
But it wasn’t just any game. This particular game marked not only IUSB’s first home game of the season, but also their first home game ever. IUSB’s baseball team has only been in existence since fall 2015.
The Purdue North Central Panthers travelled from Westville, Ind., to complete the three-game series against the Titans. Twice the Titans defeated the Panthers in the earlier games, 12-8 and 8-2.
The historic game kicked off at 2 p.m. after encouraging words and a first pitch from IUSB chancellor Terry Allison.
“We believe in a scholar athlete. Academics is number one and sports is number two in our program,” Allison said before the game.
Junior pitcher Trey Bickel pitched the first no-hitter in the history of IUSB baseball and struck out 10 players. Senior Jordan Hinton had four runs for the Titans and had three hits out of his five times at bat.
Junior Kevin Phelps and Freshman Spencer McCool each had three runs, three hits and two RBIs. Junior Chris Mangus had three hits and two RBIs. Freshman Drew MacDonald had three runs and one hit.
Out of their 21 at-bats, players for Purdue North Central had no runs or hits in this game.
IUSB came out on top at their first home game with a score of 18-0. This win was even sweeter for the Titans since it was their third win against the Panthers in two days.
The Titans’ three-game sweep of the Panthers started them off with a 3-0 record in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference and increased their overall record to 10-8.
Titan head coach Brian Blondell was proud to be a part of the history. “Sometimes,a in the scope of the games and practices, you tend to forget about where things initially started, and to actually be a part of the history and the moment on Sunday is pretty cool for the guys and our staff,” Blondell said. “We are very humbled by the opportunity and look forward to representing the Titan name for the future.”
Next year, students will be able to experience similar history with a new sport. IUSB will also begin softball next fall.
A video recap of this historic baseball game is available on IUSBPreface.net.
