BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University baseball team dropped a pair of non-conference games to Albion College on a windy Sunday, April 24, 2022. Bluffton fell to 13-18 overall, while the Britons improved to 13-18 on the season.
A five-run first had the Bluffton faithful on their feet as the home team smacked four hits and took advantage of an Albion error. Jake Baumgartner (Toledo/Start) doubled home Garrett O'Reilly (Galena/Orange) before Nick Diana (Batavia/West Clermont) picked up Brandon Wilson (Casstown/Miami East) and Kenny Schneider (Sunbury/Big Walnut) with his two-bagger.
A Baumgartner RBI triple and a wild pitch in the home second made it 7-0 in favor of the good guys, but Albion began to chip away with a run in the third and four in the fourth. The Britons took the lead with three in the fifth and added five more in the sixth on the way to a 13-7 lead. Jack Towell (Batavia/West Clermont) doubled home Ezra Deitering (Ottawa/Miller City) in the bottom of the sixth, but a scoreless seventh added up to a 13-8 Albion victory in the opener.
Baumgartner, Towell and Diana all finished with two hits in game one. Baumgartner and Diana drove in two apiece, while O'Reilly and Baumgartner both scored twice.
Junior Jaden Jaques (New Palestine, Ind.) gave up five runs on five hits in his first start of the season, tossing 3.1 innings. Freshman Lane Casey (Urbana/Mechanicsburg) dropped his first collegiate decision after allowing three runs on three hits in one inning. Jacob Daulton (Batavia) worked a scoreless seventh, allowing just one free pass.
Bluffton jumped out again the second game, putting three scores on the board in the bottom of the first. Schneider and Diana both rapped RBI singles for the Beavers.
Albion bounced right back with three in the second and two in the fourth before a Baumgartner homer in the home half and Diana triple tied it back up at 5-5 after five frames.
The visitors thought they iced it with two tallies in the sixth and four in the seventh, but Bluffton would not go away quietly. A Dylan Gray (Hilliard/Hilliard Bradley) double drove in Diana. O'Reilly singled home Gray before Baumgartner's base knock picked up Deitering. Towell lifted a sacrifice fly to right, making it 11-9 when O'Reilly crossed the dish, but that was it for Bluffton as Albion wrapped up the sweep with an 11-9 decision.
Diana and Schneider both smacked three hits in game two. Baumgartner went 2-of-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Diana also scored twice in the nightcap.
Wyatt Groves (Marengo/Highland) allowed five runs, three earned, on four hits in four innings on the hill. He struck out three and walked three. Seth Evans (Ada/OSU-Lima) fell to 0-2 after giving up two runs on three hits in two innings.
Bluffton will wrap up its six-game homestand when the Beavers welcome Defiance College for a 1 p.m. double-dipper on Tuesday, April 26. Game one is slated for 1 p.m. at Memorial Field.
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