April 9, 2010
BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University baseball team pounded out 17 hits in an 11-7 victory over Transylvania on a breezy Friday, April 9, 2010. The Beavers, winners of three straight games, improved to 10-14 overall and 1-7 in the Heartland Conference, while Transy fell to 14-10 and 4-6 in the HCAC.
Bluffton took a 1-0 lead in the first when Nick Broyles (Toledo/Whitmer) picked up Kyle Niermann (Napoleon), who doubled to open the game, with a sacrifice fly to center field. Transylvania answered back with two runs in the top of the second thanks to a pair of walks and a Ben Kuebbing RBI single to center field.
Brennan Bauman (Milford) hit his first of two solo home runs in the home half of the second, knotting the game at two. The visitors again responded with two runs in their next trip to the plate.
Bauman's second dinger in as many at-bats made the score 4-3 after four innings, but the Pioneers added a Zuckerman solo homer in the fifth to push their lead back to two runs.
The Bluffton offense, which scored in each inning except the third, caught fire with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Tyler Stephenson (Springfield/Northwestern) singled home Niermann and Bauman followed with a run-scoring double to the wall in right center. Michel Knorr (Pickerington/North) picked up Stephenson, putting the Beavers up 6-5.
The home team used three hits and two Transy errors to push two runs across the plate in the sixth before Kyle Trainer (Mechanicsburg) and Miles Richardson (Granville/Newark Catholic) each added run-scoring hits in the seventh for a 10-5 advantage.
Thomas Tolliver delivered a two-run double in the top of the eighth, but Bluffton made it 11-7 when Stephenson singled home Stephen Torres (Lima/Juan Diego) in the bottom of the frame. Bauman worked around two singles to open the ninth as the Beavers came away with their first conference victory of the season.
Brennan Bauman went 3-of-4 with three RBI, three runs scored and two dingers. Kyle Niermann also finished 3-of-4 with three runs scored. Nick Broyles and Tyler Stephenson both had two hits and two RBI, while Stephen Torres was 2-of-4 with a pair of runs scored. Kyle Trainer added two safeties.
Adrian Fritch (Edon) improved to 1-1 after allowing five runs on five hits in six innings of work. He fanned seven batters and walked four. Bauman limited the Pioneers to two runs with three strikeouts over the final two frames.
Bluffton and Transylvania will continue their three-game series with a doubleheader at Memorial Field on Saturday, April 10. The first contest is slated to start at 1 p.m.
-BEAVERS-