By Tim Stried
April 21, 2003

Bluffton College junior infielder Bob Heitkamp raised his season batting average to .451 last week, which now ranks second in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, and junior first baseman Kyle Alberson hit his 10th homerun of the season, which set a new Bluffton single-season record, as the Beaver baseball squad battled in four road games.

Bluffton came out on the losing end of each contest, however, but will now welcome a stretch of five straight home games at Sears Field, where the Beavers have proven to be a solid club this spring.

Bluffton will host Cedarville Wed. at 4 p.m. and will return to action for a three-game HCAC series against Franklin beginning Friday at 4 p.m. and continuing on Sat. beginning at noon.

Alberson, who already owns the BC career homerun record, hit his 10th homer of the season in the first game of the Mount St. Joseph series on Friday, which broke the former record of nine held by Dave Rodriguez in 1990. Alberson set the all-time HR record earlier this season and now has 24 round trippers for his career.

Heitkamp also homered in the first game against the Mount, but the hosts prevailed 17-8. The Lions took the second game 8-3 on Friday before closing out the series with a 17-1 win on Saturday. Bluffton, now aiming to snap a 10-game losing skid, dropped a 5-1 decision at Ohio Northern last Wednesday.

Alberson is batting .419 and leads the team in hits (36), homeruns (10, tie 1st in HCAC), runs (23), RBI (29), slugging percentage (.872, 1st in HCAC) and on base percentage (.510). Heitkamp leads the team in average (.451) and doubles (8) and has three homers and 15 RBI, while other offensive leaders include sophomore Brad Moore (.349), senior Wes Hall (.299), junior Jim Dwenger (.298) and junior Josh Underwood (.297).