By: Colton Steiner
AMELIA, Ohio - A day after playing a home doubleheader on Saturday, the Bluffton Beaver baseball team hit the road to go up against the Mount St. Joseph Lions in another two-game series on Sunday, April 13. Bluffton managed to rally late in game one, but it the deficit was too much as they would fall 9-5. Offensive struggles would continue in game two as they would fall 12-2 in eight innings. The two losses dropped them to 5-23 for the year and 3-11 in the HCAC, while the Lions improved to 19-10 and 9-6 in Heartland Conference play.
Mount St. Joseph took advantage of a Bluffton error in the bottom of the first, giving them a 1-0 lead right out of the gate. Following three innings of scoreless baseball, the Lions exploded for five runs in the fifth inning as they extended their lead to to 6-0. The home team wouldn't stop there as an RBI single in the sixth and a two-run dinger down the left field line pushed the score to 9-0.
In the bottom of the eigth, the bats got rolling for the Beavers as Jake Baumgartner (Toledo/Start) got the scoring run started with an single that brought home a pair of runs, cutting the deficit to seven. Bluffton added two more runs in the inning after a couple of fielding errors allowed Jake Baumgartner and Justin Maurer (Springfield/Kenton Ridge) to cross home plate. Trailing 9-4, the Beavers were able to score one more run after a fielder's choice brought home Colton Rinehart (Richmond, Ind./Centerville). Despite the comeback, the gap would be too much to overcome.
Two Beavers managed to collect a pair of hits in the contest, with Jake Baumgartner going 2-for-4 from the plate with a run and an RBI and Drew Snipes (Pickerington/North) going an effective 2-for-3, while also drawing a walk.
Matthew Becher (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) went 4.2 innings, allowing five earned runs on 10 Mount St. Joseph hits. He fell to 1-3 on the season. Picking up a pair of strikeouts in two innings of relief was Alexander James (Vandalia/Butler), who allowed two runs on one hit.
Bluffton kicked off the second game of the day with a 1-0 lead after a failed pickoff attempt allowed Jack Towell (Batavia/West Clermont) to score from third. The Lions would even up the contest at 1-1 following an RBI single that squeaked through the right side in the bottom of the third.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the hosts rallied with seven runs, three of which came off a homer to left, giving Mount St. Joseph a 8-1 lead. The Beavers couldn't get anything going on offense as the Lions would add another run in the bottom of the sixth off a sacrifice fly, extending the lead to 9-1.
Bluffton got a run in the seventh when Aaron Archer (Bowling Green) crossed the dish on a groundout, cutting the deficit to 9-2. Mount St. Joseph immediately responded in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single that put the Lions ahead 10-2. Then, in the bottom of the eighth, Mount St. Joseph would run-rule the Beavers after a two-run single ended the game with the hosts collecting a 12-2 victory.
The Beavers struggled at the plate, picking up only six hits as a team, compared to 16 for the Lions. Six different Beavers were able to get on base with a hit with Aaron Archer and Jack Towell scoring the only runs.
Starting on the mound and falling to 0-6 on the season was Wyatt Groves (Marengo/Highland) who allowed seven runs in 4.1 innings of work.
Bluffton will look to put these losses behind them as they prepare to welcome Hiram College on Tuesday, April 15 at 4:15.
-Beavers-