BLUFFTON, Ohio - The 2020-21 school year is in the books but the Bluffton University baseball team is still swinging its lumber as the Beavers will head to Terre Haute, Ind., for a three-game series with Rose-Hulman in the opening round of the Heartland Conference tournament. Game one is slated for 7 p.m. on Friday, May 14, with games two and three (if necessary) at 1 and 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 15. The winner of the Bluffton-RHIT series moves into the five-team double elimination round the following week.
It marks the second time in four years that Bluffton has found a spot in the HCAC Tournament with a berth in the NCAA Tournament on the line. The 2021 seniors, including graduate students Adam Duncan (Northwood/Lake) and Parker Reynolds (Avon), all played crucial roles in Bluffton's only other trip to the HCAC Tournament in 2018.
The Beavers were forced to scratch and claw their way to an 8th place finish after opening the season with a 1-10 mark as Bluffton struggled to put runs on the scoreboard. A 7-3 stretch that included mercy-rule sweeps of Mount St. Joseph and Defiance propelled the Beavers to a 15-12 record over the final 27 games.
One of the keys for the Beavers will be scoring early. Bluffton put up an astonishing 51 runs in the first inning of its 38 games this season and when the score favored the Beavers heading to the second frame, Bluffton came away victorious 9 of 11 times. It will also be crucial to avoid an early letdown as the Beavers only scored 10 runs in the second inning this season. That is the same number Bluffton put up in the first inning when the home team smacked rival Defiance 16-5 at Memorial Field on April 3.
Bluffton has been in the upper echelon of the HCAC pitching stats throughout the year. Tommy Siemer (Liberty Township/Lakota East) finished the regular season 5th in the conference with 63 strikeouts and his five wins is also tied for 5th. Junior Seth Evans (Ada/OSU-Lima) is 3rd in the conference with five saves and 3rd all-time at Bluffton for a single season. Senior Garrett O'Reilly (Galena/Orange) and sophomore Jacob Boelkens (Millbury/Lake) give the Beavers confidence heading into what could be a three-game set at Rose-Hulman as both have logged over 45 innings this season. Boelkens has a trim 3.94 ERA and 46 strikeouts, while O'Reilly has issued just 13 free passes to go along with 40 punchouts.
Leading the Beavers with a .323 batting average and 29 RBI is Reynolds, in his fifth year behind the dish at Bluffton. Sophomore Jack Towell (Batavia/West Clermont) and senior Jaxon Rogan (Marysville) are both hitting over .310 as the middle of Bluffton's infield has been productive offensively as well as with the leather. A four-year starter in center field, Reid Ruhl (Hamilton) has scored a team-high 35 runs. Rogan has scored 33 runs, while Jacob Latkofsky (Temperence, Mich./Ida) and Duncan have crossed the plate 28 and 26 times, respectively.
Freshman Kenny Schneider (Sunbury/Big Walnut) is hitting .305 since taking over in left field and Jake Baumgartner (Toledo/Start) has been a mainstay in the lineup, seeing time at second base and behind the plate when Siemer is on the hill.
Although a trip to Florida was not in the cards for 2021, the Beavers nearly pulled off the unthinkable. They played 38 out of a maximum 40 games with the only washouts a series at Defiance on the final day of the regular season. With the conference stipulating that games needed to be finished on Sunday, May 8, so tournament preparations could be finished, the Beavers were unable to make it a perfect 40-for-40 during this most unique of seasons when every baseball game played was a conference clash.
Bluffton will be battling history when the Beavers suit up this weekend as Rose-Hulman holds a commanding 38-7 advantage in the all-time series with 20 straight victories. The last time the purple and white came out on top was in 2013 when Bluffton took the series two games to one. Repeating that scenario at Rose this weekend would put Bluffton in the five-team HCAC double-elimination tournament that is slated to kick off on Thursday, May 20, at the home site of the top remaining seed.
-BEAVERS-