Here are updates on Bluffton University baseball and softball games.
Baseball
The Bluffton University baseball team split a pair of two-run games at Hanover College on Saturday, March 27, 2021. Hanover took game one (6-4) and Bluffton bounced back with an 8-6 victory in the capper. The Beavers moved to 2-10 overall and in the conference, while Hanover stands 7-5 on both accounts.
A pair of doubles to lead off the bottom of the second led to two Panther runs and an early 2-0 Hanover lead in game one. Bluffton evened it up in the top of the fourth when Jack Towell (Batavia/West Clermont) singled home Reid Ruhl (Hamilton) and Adam Duncan (Northwood/Lake) picked up Towell with his base hit to left.
The Beavers went up 4-2 an inning later thanks to a two-run single by Parker Reynolds (Avon) that drove in Jaxon Rogan (Marysville) and Jacob Latkofsky (Temperance, MI/Ida). However, the Panthers plated a single run in the seventh before doubling their score with three more tallies in the eighth inning. They made the 6-4 lead hold up when Bluffton went down in order in the top of the ninth.
Senior Garrett O'Reilly (Galena/Orange) gave the Beavers a great outing on the mound, allowing three runs on five hits in seven innings of work with eight strikeouts, but he did not factor in the decision thanks to four Hanover runs after he left the game. Jacob Daulton (Batavia) took the loss after allowing three runs on four hits in 2/3 of an inning.
Reynolds led the Beavers with two hits and two RBI.
With game two tied 1-1 in the top of the third, Towell picked up RBI's number two and three for the game with his single to left. Ruhl and sophomore Nick Diana (Batavia/West Clermont) crossed the plate for a 3-1 Bluffton edge.
Hanover knotted it with single runs in the bottom of the third and fourth innings before a four-run Bluffton fifth made it 7-3 in favor of the visitors. Three errors led to the four unearned tallies as Ruhl, Latkofsky, Towell and O'Reilly all crossed the dish.
Ruhl singled home Jake Baumgartner (Toledo/Start) in the sixth, making it 8-4 Bluffton. Hanover put up two runs in the seventh, but the Beavers limited the home team to one hit over the final two frames for the 8-6 victory.
Junior Spencer Garrison (West Salem/Northwestern) earned the win after tossing two shutout innings in the seventh and eighth, striking out three while allowing two hits and one walk. Seth Evans (Ada/OSU-Lima) notched his first save, giving up just a walk in the ninth inning.
Ruhl had three hits and scored three times. Towell drove in three runs, while Duncan, Latkofsky and Baumgartner all finished with multiple knocks.
Softball
The Bluffton University softball team swept a pair of 5-inning games with Manchester University on a cool Friday, March 26, 2021. Both contests were classified junior varsity on Friday afternoon.
An Erin Cicerella (Toledo/Whitmer) double to left center in the bottom of the second drove in Erin Norman (Pleasant Hill/Newton) for a 1-0 lead. Norman's two-bagger in the third allowed Emily Dyson (Payne/Wayne Trace) and Annie McCrate (Westerville/South) to cross the dish as Bluffton went up 3-0.
Ciccerella doubled home Bryn Cisco (Lancaster/Fairfield Union) in the fourth inning, setting the stage for a four-run fifth that saw the Beavers nail down a mercy-rule victory in game one. Dyson, Marissa Auvil (North Canton/Hoover) and pinch-runner Sydney Bowen (Convoy/Crestview) scored as Bluffton pushed its spread to 7-0 before Lexus Rutledge (Henderson, KY/Henderson County) ended hit with her RBI single down the right field line that plated Cisco for the 8-0 five-inning victory!
Junior Molly Bollinger (Lima/Shawnee) picked up the win after tossing five shutout innings. She allowed three hits, walked three and struck out four in the lidlifter.
McCrate, Norman, Cisco and Cicerella al finished with two hits. Dyson and Cisco both scored twice, while Cicerella drove in two runs.
With Manchester up 4-0 heading to the bottom of the third, Bollinger cut the deficit in half with her single up the middle that plated Dyson and Sammi Urban (Troy/Miami East). Bollinger scored on a Katie Fleshman (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) fielder's choice and Hannah Walters (Beavercreek) followed with a double to center that put Bluffton up 5-4.
RBI singles by McCrate and Walters made it 7-4 in the bottom of the fourth and then the floodgates opened in the home half of the fifth inning. Bobbi Adams (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes), who took over behind the dish in the top of the fourth, smoked a Manchester offering over the fence in center field to kick off the onslaught. Consecutive run-scoring singles by Bollinger, McCrate and Fleshman sent the Spartans packing as Bluffton capped the afternoon off with a second mercy-rule victory.
McCrate went 4-of-4 in game two as the senior finished her day 6-of-7 at the plate. Walters and Dyson both smacked three hits for the victors. Bollinger and Walters drove in three runs apiece, while Dyson and Bollinger both scored three times.
Fleshman went the distance, allowing four runs on six hits with six walks and six strikeouts.
