BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University baseball team split a pair of Heartland Conference games with Rose-Hulman on Friday, May 5, 2023. Bluffton moved to 21-15 overall and 13-6 in the HCAC. It marked Bluffton's first regular season win over the Engineers since 2013.
Grant Hovest (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) put the home team up 1-0 in the bottom of the first when his single to center picked up Nick Diana (Batavia/West Clermont). Rose took a 2-1 lead in the second, but the Beavers responded with two of their own. Freshman Austin Francis (Troy/Miami East) doubled down the left field line, driving in Kenny Schneider (Sunbury/Big Walnut) before a Diana sacrifice fly plated Francis for a 3-2 Bluffton advantage.
The visitors kept the pressure on with a three-run third, but Bluffton answered right back with two more tallies in the bottom of the frame. Schneider and Francis both drove in runs, knotting it up at five apiece. An inning later Diana scurried home with what would be the game-winning run when the final five innings went off without a whimper as game one took just one hour and 55 minutes!
Senior Jaden Jaques (New Palestine, IN) moved himself into a tie for second on the Bluffton single-season list with his 6th victory (6-3). He allowed five runs on eight hits over six innings with five strikeouts against just one walk. Sophomore Nathan Young (Copley) tossed 2.1 scoreless frames for a hold and Andrew Collinsworth (Westerville/Westerville South) came on for the final two outs, recording his second save of the season.
Jake Baumgartner (Toledo/Start) smacked two hits, while Francis went 2-of-4 with two RBI and a run scored. Diana crossed the dish twice in game one.
Rose jumped out with five runs in the top of the third, however, Bluffton responded with five of its own two innings later, making it 5-5 after five. With the bases juiced, junior Ezra Deitering (Ottawa/Miller City) broke the ice with an RBI single that pushed Baumgartner home. Hovest and Jack Towell (Batavia/West Clermont) both crossed the dish following a Rose miscue, pulling Bluffton within two runs. Another Francis two-bagger, this time down the right field line, drove in Deitering and pinch hitter Carson Kindred (Brookville/Troy Christian) tied it up at five apiece with his sacrifice fly to center!
It was still anybody's ballgame until Rose led off the eighth with a solo shot and added two more tallies for an 8-5 lead with just two more cracks for Bluffton. The Beavers had the tying run at the plate with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, but Jonathan Oliger closed out his fourth save of the season with three straight outs for an 8-5 Engineer victory.
Starter Jacob Boelkens (Millbury/Lake) gave up five runs, three earned, on six hits in five innings of work, but he did not factor in the decision. Darius Boeke (Sidney) breezed through the sixth and seventh before Rose got to him for three in the eighth as he fell to 2-1 on the season. Josh Slade (Cincinnati/Madeira) struck out three of his four batters in the ninth.
Towell finished with three hits in game two, while Hovest and Francis added two safeties apiece.
Bluffton will cap off its regular season with a pair of games at St. Xavier High School in Louisville, Ky., against Hanover College on Sunday, May 7. Game one is slated for 1:30 p.m.
-BEAVERS-
