February 25, 2012

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - A three-run seventh inning by Ohio Wesleyan sent the Battling Bishops to a 6-5 win over the Bluffton University baseball team in the 2012 season opener on Saturday, Feb. 25. OWU capped the sweep with a 7-1 victory over the Beavers who managed just four hits in game two.

The Bishops took advantage of five hits in the first two innings as the home team on the scoreboard built an early 3-0 lead. A two-out solo shot by Kyle Niermann (Napoleon) made the score 3-1 midway through the third frame.

Bluffton's offense tallied four runs with two outs in the top of the fifth. A pair of singles sandwiched around a Kyle Trainer (Mechanicsburg) sacrifice bunt put sophomore backstop Tim Webb (Delaware/Worthington Christian) on third. Niermann singled home Webb and he promptly stole second. An Ohio Wesleyan error put runners on the corners for Nick Broyles (Toledo/Whitmer) who laced a two-run triple to right. Three straight walks made the score 5-3 when Airic Steagall's (Hillsboro) free pass pushed Broyles across the dish.

Junior Tyler Gibson (Sylvania/Southview), who tossed 5.1 innings of superb relief, continued to mow down the Ohio Wesleyan hitters through the bottom of the sixth, giving Bluffton a chance to secure a victory in its season opener.

Sophomore Ben Roeschley (Graymont, Ill./Flanagan) came on in the seventh and was on the verge of his first career save when a Bluffton error with two down kept the Battling Bishops alive. OWU took advantage of the new life and pulled off an improbable 6-5 win following a game-ending balk.

Kyle Niermann paced the Bluffton offense with two hits, two runs scored and two RBI. Broyles also knocked in two runs with his fifth-inning triple.

Roeschley (0-1) took the loss when OWU plated three unearned runs in the home half of the seventh.

Bluffton knotted the score with a Tyler Stephenson (Springfield/Northwestern) RBI double in the bottom of the first, but OWU came right back with a run in the second, three in the fourth and two in the fifth en route to a 7-1 victory over the Beavers in game two. Bluffton went hitless during the final five innings as the Battling Bishops improved to 2-0 on the season.

Miles Richardson (Granville/Newark Catholic) was saddled with the loss after going just three innings and allowing two runs on four hits with two walks. Stephenson rapped two hits for the Beavers. Kevin Martin (Bryan) had his 12-game hitting streak come to an end in the 7-1 setback.

Bluffton will next take the field in Port Charlotte, Fla., on Sunday, March 4, when it meets John Carroll at 3 p.m.

-BEAVERS-