BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University baseball team led 6-0 after three innings, but Otterbein came all the way back for a 16-12 victory at Memorial Field on Thursday, March 24, 2022. Bluffton saw its four-game winning streak snapped as the Beavers fell to 5-7 on the season. Otterbein improved to 10-5 overall.
Bluffton scored two apiece in the first, second and third innings as Otterbein hit five batters in the first three frames. Junior Adam Yoh (Milford) smacked his first career bomb to left in the third as Bluffton looked to be well on its way to a fifth straight victory. An inning later the train came off the tracks, however, as Otterbein put a nine-spot up before Bluffton could stop the bleeding.
Back-to-back hit batters in the bottom of the frame pushed Jake Baumgartner (Toledo/Start) and Grant Hovest (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) across the dish as the home team pulled within a run at 9-8.
Two Cardinal runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth made it 14-8 before the Beavers went to work in the bottom of the inning. Garrett O'Reilly (Galena/Orange) doubled home Hovest and then Justin Maurer (Springfield/Kenton Ridge) hit a laser over the fence in left center field for his first career dinger which made the score 14-12. Unfortunately, that was the end of Bluffton's offense as the Beavers dropped a 16-12 decision just before darkness took over.
Baumgartner and Hovest both finished with two hits and they scored three runs apiece. Maurer drove in four, while Yoh added two RBI.
Starter Jacob Boelkens (Millbury/Lake) did not factor in the decision after allowing six runs, but just one earned, on six hits in 3.1 innings on the hill. Jacob Daulton (Batavia) fell to 1-2 after surrendering five runs on four hits in only 0.2 innings. Seth Evans (Ada, Ohio/OSU-Lima) and Carson Curnutte (Hilliard/Hilliard Davidson) each tossed a scoreless frame to keep Bluffton within striking distance in the the eighth and ninth innings.
Bluffton is back at Memorial Field for a doubleheader with Albion College from the MIAA on Saturday, March 26. Game one is slated for a noon start.
-BEAVERS-
