By Bill Hanefeld Jr., sports information director
March 18, 2006
CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. - The Bluffton University baseball team traveled to Thomas More College on Saturday, March 18, 2006 for a non-conference doubleheader. The Beavers fell to 4-7 with a pair of losses, 6-0 and 11-2, to the Saints who improved to 8-2 on the season. Thomas More's pitchers limited Bluffton to only eight hits on the afternoon.
GAME 1 - THOMAS MORE 6, BLUFFTON 0
Following a leadoff flyout, the Saints put together three runs in the first inning with the help of three free passes. PRICE walked and immediately moved into scoring position when he stole second. THOMA picked up the RBI on his double to center field. Two more walks loaded the bases for BERNDSEN who plated Thoma and KETTERER when he singled through the right side giving Thomas More a 3-0 lead after one inning.
Bluffton threatened in the third when TONY GERIG (West Unity/Hilltop) ripped a one out single to right field. He stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch but was left stranded when RIORDAN MCCLAIN (Upper Sandusky/Upper Sandusky) popped up to the shortstop to end the inning.
BROWN followed a MCINTOSH single with a double in the fourth to give the Saints a 4-0 lead over the Beavers heading to the fifth inning.
Thomas More opened the fifth inning with three consecutive singles to push two more runs across the plate before RANDY MILLER (Willard/Willard) took over on the hill and induced a double play groundout to the shortstop and groundout to third to end the inning.
Freshman MATT PERKINS (Convoy/Crestview) took the loss as he gave up six runs on eight hits in four innings of work. Miller shut the Saints out over the final two innings giving up no hits and facing only five batters.
Bluffton was held to four hits by the Saints who have not given up an earned run during their last 26 innings.
GAME 2 - THOMAS MORE 11, BLUFFTON 2
Thomas More jumped on top in the first inning again in game two. Two singles and a consecutive doubles by HELSLEY and TODD gave the Saints a 3-0 lead after inning one.
The Saints put together three hits in the third inning to take a 5-0 lead over the Beavers.
Miller took over for Bluffton on the mound to start the fourth inning. He was greeted with four hits and an error as the Saints tacked on three more runs to open up an eight run advantage over the Beavers.
With lefty AARON KRIEGER (Ida, Mi./Ida) on the hill for the Beavers in the fifth inning, Thomas More took advantage of four singles and a wild pitch to plate three runs and take an 11-0 lead into the sixth.
The Bluffton bats came alive in the sixth inning. COREY CONN (London/London) led off the frame with a single up the middle. Following a pair of strikeouts, the Beavers staged a two-out rally. LOWELL WYSE (Camden, Mich./Hesston J.C.) ripped a single through the left side and McClain reached on an error by the first baseman. CURTIS SCHROEDER (Shelby/Shelby) picked up Conn and Wyse with a single up the middle, but an infield grounder ended the inning with the Beavers trailing 11-2.
Freshman JUSTIN JONES (Washington Court House/Washington Senior) picked up his first loss of the season as he gave up five runs on eight hits in three innings of work.
The Saints pitching again held Bluffton to only four hits for the game. Schroeder collected two RBI's while Conn and Wyse scored the runs for the Beavers.
Bluffton returns to action on Tuesday, March 21 when it travels to Tiffin to take on the Dragons. The game is scheduled to start at 3 p.m.