LOUISVILLE, Ind. - The Bluffton University baseball team downed Hanover College 5-2 in game two on Sunday, May 5, tying the school record with victory number 22! Bluffton finished its Heartland Conference slate with a 14-8 mark, giving the Beavers a school-record .636 winning percentage in HCAC contests. The Sunday split also sends Bluffton into the HCAC Tournament with a Bluffton-best #3 seed after wrapping up the regular season with a 22-14 mark overall.
Senior Jack Towell (Batavia/West Clermont) added to his single-season RBI mark with a run-scoring single in the third, but Hanover was already on its way to a convincing 17-2 victory when the Panthers pasted a five-spot on the board an inning earlier. Five Hanover runs in the fourth, four in the fifth and three in the sixth capped the offensive explosion for the home team.
Kenny Schneider (Sunbury/Big Walnut) crossed the dish in the top of the sixth when Nick Diana (Batavia/West Clermont) drew a bases-loaded walk, but it was too little, too late in game one.
Andrew Collinsworth (Westerville/Westerville South) fell to 2-2 after surrendering seven runs on six hits in 3.1 innings of work. He struck out three and did not walk a batter. Bluffton finished with just three hits in the lidlifter.
Game two saw the visitors jump out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning. Sophomore Justin Maurer (Springfield/Kenton Ridge) singled home Jake Baumgartner (Toledo/Start) to peel the lid off the can. Ezra Deitering (Ottawa/Miller City) knocked in Towell and Austin Francis (Troy/Miami East) followed with a single to left that picked up Schneider.
Hanover made it a one-run game with single tallies in the third and fifth, but Bluffton pushed it back to a three-run spread in the seventh. Back-to-back two-baggers by Towell and Maurer made it 4-2 and a wild pitch allowed Maurer to cross the dish with run number five.
Wyatt Groves (Marengo/Highland) came up with his third straight out-of-this-world performance. In a game the Beavers needed to win to nail down the #3 seed and to have any chance at the #2 seed, Groves went eight innings, giving up just two runs on six hits with eight punchouts! Fellow sophomore Jake Shaver (New London) needed only four batters in the ninth to nail down his team-best third save of the season.
Diana, Towell, Maurer and Francis all smacked two hits in the Sunday finale. Towell scored twice, while Maurer drove in a pair of runs.
Earlham College was just four outs away from a 4-3 victory at Transylvania that would have allowed Bluffton to clinch the #2 seed and first-round bye when the Pioneers rallied for two runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Bluffton will now begin preparations for its third-ever trip to the Heartland Conference Tournament. The #3 seed Beavers will play #6 seed Manchester at 10 AM in Kokomo, Ind. on Thursday, May 11. Check the Bluffton Baseball schedule page for updates throughout the week!
-BEAVERS-