By Brian Steiner, SID intern
April 14, 2003
The Bluffton College baseball team had a challenging set of four games last week in which the Beavers dropped all four contests. Due to bad weather, the Beavers were forced to finish the Defiance series on Wed., April 9 at Defiance and lost 15-6. BC then played Anderson in a three-game series this weekend, coming up short 9-4 on Fri., April 11, and falling in the double-header on Sat., April 12 by scores of 9-0 and 12-4.
Bluffton will take to the road this week as they travel to Ohio Northern on Wed., April 16 to play at 4 p.m. and then go to Cincinnati this weekend to battle Mount St. Joseph on Fri., April 18 in a double-header starting at 3 p.m. as well as a game on Sat., April 19 beginning at noon.
Leading the Beavers offensively are juniors Bob Heitkamp (.421 avg., 6 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI) and Kyle Alberson (.405 avg.), who leads the team in hits (30), homeruns (9), RBI (27), slugging percentage (.838) and on base percentage (.494).
The ERA leaders on the pitching staff include three freshman: Steve Hastings (5.60 ERA, 2-3), Casey Ray (7.45 ERA) and Randy Miller (7.50 ERA, 0-2). Senior Wes Hall (8.41 ERA, 2-4) leads the staff in innings pitched with 35.
April 9: BC 6, Defiance 15
Bluffton hasn't lost at home to Defiance since 1996, but the home field advantage was taken from the Beavers this year thanks to the weather, which forced all three games to be played at Defiance. Bluffton fell to the Yellow Jackets Wed. in a make-up game from last week 15-6. Heitkamp led the squad in batting, going 2-for-4 with 1 RBI, while Alberson scored two runs and batted one in.
April 11: BC 4, Anderson 9
The Beavers battled a very good Anderson squad, which is now ranked 21st in the country, but came up short 9-4. Hall performed well as he led the team in batting, going 3-for-5 at the plate, and struck out seven batters in seven innings of work. Junior Josh Underwood knocked his first collegiate homerun as one of five players with two or more hits.
April 12: BC falls at AU, 9-0 and 12-4
Junior Luke Clouse went 2-for-3 at the plate to lead the team offensively in game one, while in game two junior Ryan Fiely led the team in batting, going 2-for-3 at the plate, including a double, an RBI, and scoring one run.
The four losses this week drops Bluffton's record to 6-16 overall and 1-11 in the HCAC.