The Bluffton University baseball team scored in just one inning, but a seven-run eighth was all the Beavers needed to take down Defiance on Thursday, April 21, 2011. Bluffton improved to 13-17 overall and 5-10 in the Heartland Conference, while Defiance fell to 5-25 on the season and 1-14 in the HCAC.
The victory marked Coach Grandey's 100th win as head coach of the Beavers. He becomes the third Bluffton coach to reach 100 wins this school year and the second to accomplish the feat at Defiance College. Coach Yarnell also picked up win #100 at Defiance in the fall and Coach Bruder won her 100th game as head softball coach at Ohio Wesleyan.
A two-run double by Brent James in the bottom of the fifth inning provided the only action on the scoreboard until the Bluffton offense went off for seven runs on seven hits in the visitor half of the eighth. A Miles Richardson (Granville/Newark Catholic) single and Nick Broyles (Toledo/Whitmer) double put runners in scoring position for freshman cleanup hitter Airic Steagall (Hillsboro) with no outs. His two-bagger knotted the score at two before a walk to Tyler Stephenson (Springfield/Northwestern) and Tyler Wright (Troy) sacrifice bunt again put runners on second and third.
Tim Webb's (Delaware/Worthington Christian) single picked up Steagall before a Kyle Trainer (Mechanicsburg) base hit pushed Stephenson across the plate. A bunt single by Kevin Martin (Bryan) loaded the bases with one down. Kyle Niermann (Napoleon) knocked in Webb with an RBI groundout before Richardson capped the seven-run outburst with a two-run double to center field.
Richardson, Webb and Martin all tallied two safeties while Richardson and Steagall both drove in two runs. Kelly Barnes (Toledo/Christian) gave the Beaver bullpen the night off as Bluffton gets ready for a three-game series with HCAC-power Anderson University on Saturday and Monday. He went the distance, fanning seven Jackets and walking just one hitter in nine innings on the bump. Barnes allowed two runs on nine hits while improving to 3-1 on the season.
The Beavers host Anderson for a doubleheader at 12 p.m. on Saturday, April 23. The series will conclude with a single game at Bluffton on Monday at 12 p.m.
