By: Colton Steiner

AUBURNDALE, Fla. - The Bluffton Beavers kicked off the 2026 campaign down in Florida at the RussMatt Baseball College Invitational, going up against Concordia Chicago and Allegheny in their opening day. Following a back and forth battle with the Cougars, Bluffton managed to hold their opponent to five scoreless innings to close out the contest to pick up a 4-3 win to start the day off. After falling behind early in game two, the Beavers brought it within two but were unable to capitalize as they would fall to the Allegheny Gators 7-5. Bluffton now sits at 1-1 on the season going into day two of the invitational. 

Tyler Forest (Harrison, Ohio / LaSalle) would score the first run of the ball game to get the Beavers on the board in the first inning against Concordia Chicago, but a pair of runs from the Cougars in the top of the second put the opponent up 2-1. Bluffton would even up the game at two a piece following a sacrifice fly from Xander Greulich (Pemberville, Ohio / Eastwood) that scored Drew Snipes (Pickerington, Ohio / North). Following a wild pitch that scored a run for Concordia Chicago in the fourth, the Beavers would answer in the bottom of the fifth off an RBI single from Ayden Spriggs (North Lewisburg, Ohio / Triad) that brought home Tyler Forest. After a scoreless sixth, Bluffton would take a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh after Drew Snipes smacked a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Tyler Forest. The Cougars would be unable to answer in the final two innings as Bluffton would march on for the 4-3 win. 

Tyler Forest would draw three walks in the contest, as well as crossing home plate three times, while Ayden Springs led the team with two RBIs. Recording one RBI a piece was Drew Snipes and Xander Greulich.

Starting the day on the mound for the Beavers was Matthew Becher (Fishers, Ind. / Hamilton Southeastern) who would go five innings, allowing three runs off five hits in his first appearence of the season. William Nowakowski (Grand Rapids, Ohio / Swanton) would finish the game for Bluffton and pick up the win, improving to 1-0 on the year, allowing zero runs off three hits. 

Allegheny would jump out of the gate to start game two, scoring three runs in the first and then adding another run in the second to go up 4-0. The Beavers would get things going in the third with an RBI single to center from Ayden Spriggs that cut the deficit to 4-1 in favor of the the Gators. Allegheny added another run in the fourth off a wild pitch, but the Beavers would score off a fielder's choice in the fifth that would make it 5-2. Bluffton added another run in the inning off an RBI single from Jake McCoy (Milford) to make it a two-run contest. That two run-deficit would be short lived as the Gators would score a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth, as the Beavers trailed 7-3. While Bluffton added two more runs in the top of the eighth, they would be unable to force a comeback as they would fall to Allegheny in a final score of 7-5. 

The Beavers were outhit 8-5 as Tyler Forest, Ayden Spriggs, and Jake McCoy would all record one hit and one RBI. Torin Long (Defiance) was efficient in his time on base, scoring three runs after drawing walked three walks. 

On the hill for Bluffton to start the contest was Riley Reyna (Wellington), who falls to 0-1 TO start the season. Reyna would allow five runs off six hits in his four innings of work. The Beaver pitching staff as a whole would allow seven runs off eight hits, while walking seven batters and fanning three. 

Bluffton will go right back to the field as they get set to go up against Waynesburg in a double header starting at 11 a.m.

-Beavers-