BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University baseball team battled the weather and Mount St. Joseph on Sunday, April 23, coming away with a Heartland Conference sweep of the Lions in the process. Bluffton improved to 16-12 overall and 10-4 in the HCAC, while MSJ dipped to 12-17 and 2-12 in league play.
Mount St. Joseph went up 2-0 in the top of the first, but senior Jack Towell (Batavia/West Clermont) answered the call with a two-run bomb to straightaway center in the home half. Justin Maurer's (Springfield/Kenton Ridge) moon shot to left in the third frame made it 3-2 heading to the fourth.
Two Mount runs in the fourth and another in the fifth put the visitors up 5-3 before Ezra Deitering (Ottawa/Miller City) laced a single through the left side that plated Maurer and pulled Bluffton within a run.
The real fun came two innings later in the seventh when a bases-loaded balk sent Towell home with the game-tying run. A Kenny Schneider (Sunbury/Big Walnut) single to right drove in Maurer for a 6-5 Bluffton lead and when Deitering lifted a sacrifice fly to right, Nick Diana (Batavia/West Clermont) crossed the dish, making it 7-5!
Bluffton smacked it around with 15 hits in the lidlifter, led by three from Maurer who also scored three times. Grant Hovest (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf), Jake Baumgartner (Toledo/Start), Towell, Diana and Schneider all chipped in with two knocks apiece. Towell drove in two runs and scored twice for the victors.
Senior Jacob Boelkens (Millbury/Lake) allowed five runs on eight hits in 4.2 innings of work but did not factor in the decision. He struck out four and walked three Lions. Jaden Jaques (East Palestine, Ind.) kept the Beavers in it with 2.1 scoreless frames, earning the victory when Bluffton plated three in the seventh. Jake Shaver (New London) turned in two shutout innings to close it out for his second save of the season. He struck out two, while Jaques fanned four as the Beavers finished with 10 punchouts.
It felt like deja vu in game two as MSJ scored a run in the first and another in the second for an early 2-0 lead. Fortunately for the Beavers, the end result was the same as game one!
Diana led off inning two of the finale with a single and following a Lion misplay and another balk, he strolled home to cut the deficit in half. The senior was back in the action in the third when his single to shortstop picked up Towell with the game-tying run.
A leadoff triple by Towell paid off in the fifth when Maurer followed with a base knock to right center. Maurer moved to second on a wild pitch and he put Bluffton up 4-2 when Schneider singled to left center.
After stuggling to get through the first four innings, sophomore Andrew Collinsworth (Westerville/Westerville South) caught fire and retired the next 12 batters! He finished with 10 strikeouts and gave up just two runs, one earned, over eight innings. Collinsworth allowed just four hits to go along with his four walks, all in the first four frames. Sophomore Nathan Young (Copley) needed just four batters to wrap up his second save of the season and Bluffton's second save in three hours!
Bluffton will head to Albion on Wednesday, April 26, to resume its suspended game from March 20 before another nine-inning contest in Michigan. Bluffton leads 10-3 heading to the 7th inning and they will kick that off at approximately 2 p.m.
-BEAVERS-