LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Bluffton University baseball team headed to Lexington for the second time this season on Friday, April 9, 2021. Bluffton took the appetizer, which was the conclusion of a game started back on March 6, when Lenny Winiarski (Cincinnati/LaSalle) hit a walkoff two-run shot in the bottom of the 11th inning, giving the home team on the scoreboard an 8-6 victory.
The games on March 6 were originally scheduled for Bluffton but field conditions in Northwest Ohio pushed the season-opening series south to Lexington. When the dark of night reared its head, the game was knotted 6-6 heading to the 10th inning. Another schedule change, this time due to a forecast that had rain written all over for Saturday, April 10, moved those games up to Friday in order to get three results on the schedule in the span of seven hours.
Winiarski finished the contest 3-of-4 with three runs scored and the game-ending dinger. Adam Duncan (Northwood/Lake) chipped in with two hits during the game that spanned 35 days. Junior Seth Evans (Ada/OSU-Lima) worked both innings on Friday night, earning his first win while allowing just one hit and no runs.
Bluffton jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first game originally scheduled for Satuday, April 10, when Duncan singled in Jacob Latkofsky (Temperence, Mich./Ida) in the top of the first. Unfortunately, Transy responded with five runs in the home half, scoring all the runs it would need to notch the 10-4 victory.
Pinch hitter Kenny Schneider (Sunbury/Big Walnut) plated Jack Towell (Batavia/West Clermont) with his single through the right side. Parker Reynolds (Avon) came around to score following a Transy error, making it 6-3 Pioneers midway through the third inning. Adam Yoh (Milford) picked up Winiarski in the ninth, but the final result was never in doubt as the home team finished off its 10-4 victory.
Senior Jaxon Rogan (Marysville) smacked three hits for the Beavers. Towell, Duncan, Winiarski and Reynolds all added two safeties.
Jacob Boelkens (Millbury/Lake) took the loss after allowing six runs on nine hits in five innings of work He struck out four and walked just one. Fellow sophomore Josh Slade (Cincinnati/Madeira) needed just four batters to record the final four outs for the visitors.
Bluffton had a chance to put up a big number in inning one of game two, leading 1-0 with the bases loaded and no outs, but two strikeouts and a popup ended the threat before the visitors could put a crooked number up on the board. Transy answered with four runs in the bottom of the second, all scored after Bluffton retired the first two batters of the inning.
The visitors knotted it at 4-4 in the third when Jake Baumgartner (Toledo/Start) singled home Garrett O'Reilly (Galena/Orange) and Rogan followed with a base knock that sent Baumgartner and Duncan across the dish.
A three-run shot by Transy in the bottom of the frame made it 7-4 almost before the Beavers could celebrate knotting the contest.
Three straight hits by the Beavers made the score 7-5 when Reynolds singled home Reid Ruhl in the top of the sixth inning. The Pioneers answered the call with two tallies in the bottom of the frame and three more an inning later as the home team led 12-5 heading to inning number eight. Transy tacked on a meaningless run in the bottom of the eighth en route to the 13-5 victory as the clock struck midnight from Lexington.
Freshman Seth Altman (Hilliard/Hilliard Davidson) dropped his first decision of the year after allowing eight runs, but just four earned, on nine hits in 5.1 innings of work. He struck out three and walked a pair of Pioneers.
Towell and Reynolds led the offense with three hits apiece. Reynolds and Rogan both drove in two runs, while Ruhl crossed the dish two times.
Bluffton will try to rest on Saturday before welcoming Mount St. Joseph to Memorial Field for another Heartland Conference doubleheader on Sunday, April 11, 2021. Game one is slated for 1 p.m.
-BEAVERS-