BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University baseball team is ready to stake its claim on a third Heartland Conference tournament berth in the past six years when the Beavers hit the diamond in 2023. With three HCAC sweeps for Bluffton last season, including a pair of convincing wins over champion Earlham College, the Beavers just missed out on a second straight tournament after going 9-9 in the Heartland Conference.
Bluffton will be without the services of Garrett O'Reilly (Galena/Orange) who went 4-2 with a 3.90 ERA in 55.1 innings of work. His 1.62 walks per nine innings is 8th all-time for a single season as he walked just 10 batters in 2022. He limited the opposition to a .269 batting average and his 45 strikeouts were just two behind Carson Curnutte (Hilliard/Hilliard Davidson) who led the team with 47 punchouts. O'Reilly jumped to 1st all-time with 38 games started on the bump after 21 starts the past two seasons! He wrapped up his career at number three all-time with 212 innings pitched.
However, back for a fifth year is Carson Curnutte who tossed a team-best 60.0 innings and like O'Reilly, issued just 10 free passes. Curnutte pitched in 14 games with nine starts and a 4.50 earned run average in 2022.
Senior Jake Baumgartner (Toledo/Start) had a breakout season in 2022, hitting .333 while slugging a team-best .516 thanks to 13 doubles, three triples and three homers. He also led the team with 51 hits, 23 walks and five sacrifice flies en route to 1st Team All-Heartland Conference honors. Bummy flashed the leather at second base with a slick .967 fielding percentage and 86 assists (2nd on the team).
A pair of seniors from Batavia, Ohio and West Clermont High School will be back for their final season at Bluffton. Jack Towell hit .279 and started all 39 games in 2022. The starter at shortstop for the past three years, Towell drove in 24 runs and scored 23 times as a junior and he is already the all-time leader in bruises with 37 HBP's heading into 2023. Nick Diana had just one error in center field and he scored 23 runs as a junior.
Kenny Schneider (Sunbury/Big Walnut) went 5-of-5 in the home opener and parlayed that into a team-high .340 batting average for the season. Schneider also led the Beavers with eight stolen bases and a .460 on-base percentage. He was nearly perfect in right field, collecting two assists while committing just one error in 52 chances.
Bluffton also found a couple gems from Putnam County. Transfer Grant Hovest (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) hit .316 with 20 runs scored before an injury cut his season short after 28 games. Junior Ezra Deitering (Miller City) moved into the starting lineup midway through 2022 and he found a home at 3rd base. Deitering drove in 12 runs and he showed off his arm at the hot corner.
Although O'Reilly is gone following graduation, the cupboard is far from bare as Jacob Boelkens (Millbury/Lake) and Andrew Collinsworth (Westerville/Westerville South) give the Beavers another dynamic duo on the hill. Collinsworth was a key member of Bluffton's rotation from the beginning. He went 3-2 with a sparkling 3.40 earned run average which was 5th in the HCAC for qualifying pitchers. His .233 opponent batting average was 3rd in the conference. The 2.39 ERA Collinsworth put up during the conference portion of the schedule was the best in the league for 2022! He was a perfect 3-0 in HCAC games, earning HCAC Player of the Week honors after a complete-game 11-2 victory over Manchester. Boelkens finished with a sterling 3.08 ERA and 4-2 record while holding the opposition to a paltry .233 batting average.
Seniors Adam Yoh (Milford) and Nathaniel DeWeese (Hilliard/Hilliard Davidson) split time behind the plate last season. Yoh hit .239 with 10 RBI and 12 runs scored. Sophomores Dylan Gray (Hilliard/Hilliard-Bradley) and Justin Maurer (Springfield/Kenton Ridge) both saw considerable time in the lineup as freshmen and they will be counted on to hold down first base in 2023.
Bluffton will tee it up at Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday, March 1, before an eight-game stint in Florida. The home opener is slated for Saturday, March 18, when Albion heads south for the first of back-to-back doubleheaders. A three-game series with Anderson kicks off the Heartland Conference portion of the schedule on Saturday, March 25. Bluffton travels to Defiance on Saturday, April 1 and Sunday, April 2, before the regular season comes to a close when the Beavers head to Hanover on Sunday, May 7.
-BEAVERS-