BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University Beavers downed Hanover College 4-3 in the opener and then went 12 innings before falling to the Panthers on a great day for baseball at Memorial Field. Hanover clinched the #1 seed in the HCAC Tournament with their first regular-season championship since 2001, finishing with a 26-14 record and 17-5 in conference play. Bluffton capped the year with four wins in their final five games, all against teams that made the tournament! The Beavers concluded their season 13-27, with an 8-14 record in league play.
Bluffton trailed Hanover 3-1 in the sixth when Brody Hammersley (Coshocton) drove in Jake Baumgartner (Toledo/Start) with a sacrifice fly to right field. Hits by Seth Altman (Hilliard/Hilliard Davidson), Evan Houseman (Springfield/Kenton Ridge) and Justin Maurer (Springfield/Kenton Ridge, coupled with a Hanover error, added up to three runs and that was enough as Bluffton downed the HCAC-champion Panthers 4-3 in the opener!
Junior Wyatt Groves (Marengo/Highland) was perfect through his first four innings one day after earning a save at Franklin. He allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits in 4.2 innings of work. William Nowakowski (Grand Rapids/Swanton) came on and shut the Panthers down, tossing 2.1 scoreless frames for his second victory of the season. He struck out two and did not walk a batter. Junior Nathan Young (Copley) fired two shutdown innings for his first save of the season. He did not allow a hit and finished with three strikeouts.
Maurer was a perfect 3-of-3 with an RBI. Hammersley went 2-for-3 and Baumgartner scored twice.
Game two took on a life of its own right from the start when Hanover jumped out with nine runs on just four hits in the top of the first. An Ezra Deitering (Ottawa/Miller City) sacrifice fly in the fifth broke up the shutout. Four Beaver tallies in the seventh made it 10-5 and put the visitors on notice that the game was far from over. Baumgartner singled home Altman and Hammersley came through with a two-run base hit that picked up Bummy and Deitering. Jack Towell (Batavia/West Clermont) scurried home on a wild pitch and the deficit was cut to five.
Hanover tacked on two crucial insurance runs in the ninth because the bottom half saw Bluffton explode for seven scores! A balk and wild pitch got the rally started before a fielder's choice for Towell sent Maurer across the dish. Two-run singles by pinch hitter Brandon North (Hilliard/Bradley) and Baumgartner tied the game and following an intentional walk to Maurer, Hammersley nearly walked it off, but his grand slam ball fell just short!
The home team had chances in the 10th and 11th, but the Panthers took advantage of their opportunities with four runs in the 12th and that was that as they celebrated Head Coach Grant Bellak's 100th win by earning the top seed in the upcoming HCAC Tournament.
Deitering and Baumgartner both smacked three hits in the finale. Baumgartner and North drove in three and two runs, respectively. Deitering, Baumgartner and Maurer all scored twice in game two.
Nowakowski was the hard luck loser, giving up four runs, two earned, in the top of the 12th inning. Sean Brock (Wauseon) and Darius Boeke (Sidney) combined to throw 5.1 innings of scoreless relief and Young came up big, shutting the Panthers down in the 10th and 11th after CJ Polen (Wellington) tossed a perfect 9th inning!
The 2024 baseball season is a wrap. Continue checking the baseball pages on the website as records are updated and All-Heartland Conference awards are distributed in the upcoming weeks.
-BEAVERS-
