By Tim Stried
March 24, 2003

Since posting a 4-4 record in Florida two weeks ago, the Bluffton College baseball team saw its first four "northern" games cancelled and was able to spend just two days practicing outside. Good news finally arrived last weekend in that the Beavers finally were able to get in three games. The bad news, however, is that those three games were all at Hanover College, which now leads the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference with a 15-2 record.

In Bluffton's first HCAC three-game series of the season, Hanover posted victories of 6-0, 8-0 and 7-3 on Friday and Saturday to drop BC's record to 4-7 overall and 0-3 in the HCAC.

Bluffton is scheduled to host Wilmington on March 26 before getting back into HCAC play against Transylvania at home on March 28 and 29. BC will then host Urbana on April 2.

Juniors Kyle Alberson (.528, 8 HR, 21 RBI), Bob Heitkamp (.417, 1 HR, 3 RBI) and Jim Dwenger (.364, 5 RBI) lead the team in most offensive categories so far this season. Among the pitchers, junior Josh Underwood (1-2, 7.20 ERA) leads the team in innings pitched (20.0), while senior Wes Hall (1-1, 1 save, 9.88 ERA) and freshman Steve Hastings (1-0, 4.15 ERA) own the staff's best winning percentages.

In the three-game series at Hanover, Alberson collected four hits, including two doubles, and sophomore Brad Moore went 3-for-3 in the final game Saturday. Dwenger added two hits in the series, as well.