Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer

Beavers throttle WPI 17-3

Posted: Mar 10, 2006

By Bill Hanefeld Jr., sports information director
March 10, 2006

FORT MYERS, Fl. - The Bluffton University baseball team improved to 3-3 with its 17-3 shellacking of Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Thursday, March 9, 2006. Senior RIORDAN MCCLAIN (Upper Sandusky/Upper Sandusky), making his first appearance on the hill for Bluffton, held WPI to three runs over six innings in picking up the victory for the Beavers.

Worcester put together three singles in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead over the Beavers. TONY MOORE (Elida/Elida) opened the Bluffton first with a walk and scored when McClain lined a CRAIG SHEVLIN offering to center field for a triple. TIM KAY (Alpharetta Ga./Blessed Trinity) plated McClain with a single and then stole second before CURTIS SCHROEDER(Shelby/Shelby) collected a free pass. RYAN BAIGHTEL (Wapakoneta/Wapakoneta) ripped the Beavers' second triple of the inning to right center putting Bluffton up 3-1 after one frame.

Following a second inning in which Bluffton left three runners on base, the Beavers found the scoreboard in six consecutive innings.

The Beavers used a wild pitch in the third and an error in the fourth to push three runs across the plate before double play groundouts in each inning kept them from blowing the game wide open.

Despite another inning ending double play in the fifth, the Beavers took advantage of two errors and four hits to plate four runs and take a commanding 11-1 advantage. LOWELL WYSE(Camden, Mich/Hesston J.C.) opened the inning with a bunt single and advance to second following a wild throw. Tony Moore picked up the RBI when he singled up the middle. McClain and Kay followed with consecutive singles to score Moore. RYAN RAND hit Schroeder to load the bases before unleashing a wild pitch that allowed McClain to cross the plate. Kay scored the Beavers fourth run of the inning on an error by the third baseman before reliever BRENDAN DEVEREAUX induced the double play groundout to stop the bleeding.  

The Engineers used a hit batter and a pair of hits, including a RYAN RAININE double, to put two runs on the scoreboard in the sixth inning. The Beavers responded with two in the bottom half of the stanza to take a 13- 3 lead through six. COREY CONN (London/London), who replaced Baightel at shortstop, promptly lined a double to right center to open the seventh. TYLER WILLIAMS (Lima/Lima Senior) moved Conn to third with a single to left. JUSTIN PENWELL (Washington Court House/Washington Senior) took advantage of his first collegiate plate appearance and picked up an RBI on an infield single. Williams scored when CHRIS BAUMAN (Milford/Milford) reached on a fielder's choice.

AUSTIN GRAY (Lewisburg/Tri-County North) and DERON STEINKE (Wapakoneta/St. Mary's) both scored in the eighth inning on an ANTHONY BRYANT (Reynoldsburg/Reynoldsburg) single to provide the final margin for the Beavers, 17-3.

Riordan McClain performed admirably in his first start on the mound as he held the Engineers to three runs on nine hits in six innings of work to pick up the win. Sophomore TYLER SPRUNGER (Berne, Ind./South Adams) shut down WPI over the final three innings as he faced only 10 batters and struck out six of them.

Moore led the Beavers with four hits and scored three runs. McClain went 3-of-5 at the dish and scored twice. Tim Kay was a perfect 3-of-3 at the plate and picked up four RBI's while scoring three runs. Baightel knocked in three runs and Bryant plated two in the victory. Wyse and Baightel both finished with a pair of hits in the victory.

Kay is leading the Beavers with a .533 batting average (8-of-15). He has six RBI's and has scored five runs. McClain is 10-of-19 at the plate (.526) and he leads Bluffton with eight runs scored. Tony Moore (12-of-24) and Lowell Wyse (6-of-12) are both hitting .500 through six games.

The Beavers return to action on Friday, March 10, 2006 when they take on John Carroll. The game is set to start at 10 a.m. Bluffton will also take on the Coast Guard Academy at 1 p.m. before finishing the Florida trip with a contest against Muskingum at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 11, 2006.

-BEAVERS-