Friday, March 9, 11:28 p.m.
Two more close losses were dealt to Bluffton on Friday as BC ends the EMU-Sarasota Spring Classic with an 0-8 record. BC now packs for the return trip to Ohio, which will get underway at 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Moravian topped BC 4-2 in the first game on Friday, while Eastern Mennonite held on to win 5-4 over the Beavers in a steady rainstorm for the tourney's final game.
Kenyon won the tournament with a 7-1 overall record.
Bluffton's Brad Buckingham and Ben Schwab were named to the All-Tournament Team.
Bluffton was no-hit against EMU this evening, but thanks to many walks and a couple errors, the Beavers scored four runs and nearly came back to take the win. A warm-front from the Gulf of Mexico arrived just as the game began and provided a steady rain throughout the game.
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Friday, March 9, 2:03 p.m.
Bluffton is getting ready for their last two games of the spring trip today under sunny skies and 74 degree temperatures. BC has won the final game of the tournament over EMU in three of the last four years, so the Beavers are hoping that a win or two today will end the trip on a high note.
Bill Bechtel and Bob Heitkamp are today's scheduled starting pitchers. Brad Buckingham is making a strong case for all-tournament team honors. So far this week he is 10-18 with a double and three RBIs. Ben Schwab is also having a fine week, batting 6-14 from the plate with two homers and five RBIs.
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Thursday, March 8, 3:16 p.m.
Bluffton lost two one-run games today, falling to Juniata 6-5 this morning and then 3-2 to Kenyon this afternoon. Ben Schwab hit two homeruns today to lead the BC offense, the first a solo shot against Juniata and the second a two-run job against Kenyon.
Brad Buckingham knocked a base hit in five straight at-bats and ended the day 5-7 from the plate.
Ryan Whitaker pitched all seven innings in the first game, while Kyle Alberson and Eric Humpal combined to hurl the second game. Humpal allowed just two hits and no runs in three innings of work against Kenyon.
Sunny skies and low 70-degree temperatures were a welcome change today. BC has the night off and will wrap the tournament with two games tomorrow.
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Tuesday, March 6, 11:37 p.m.
The final score of Bluffton's second game today was 10-0 in favor of Juniata.
BC played well in today's first game as the Beavers scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the score 5-5 and eventually send the game into extra innings. Moravian scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning, though, to claim the win.
Bluffton has the day off tomorrow and is hoping that the report of warmer weather comes true. Temperatures haven't been above 67 degrees since Sunday.
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Tuesday, March 6, 7:47 p.m.
Bluffton fell to Moravian this afternoon 8-5 in extra innings. In their second game of the day, BC was losing 6-0 to Juniata (last year's Classic champion) in the second inning. I am now in Orlando with the softball team and will get details from the baseball coaches later this evening about their two games today. Check back later tonight.
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Monday, March 5, 12:09 a.m.
Bluffton led for the most of the evening against EMU, but the host Royal squad scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to beat BC 7-6. Senior Bill Bechtel pitched 6 1/3 innings, but the Royals pieced together enough runs in the final few innings to win the game and send the Beavers to their second straight loss.
Bluffton will return to action Tuesday at noon.
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Monday, March 5, 1:54 p.m.
Bluffton dropped a 2-0 decision to Kenyon this morning in the first game of the EMU-Sarasota Spring Classic. Ben Schwab went 3-3 with three singles and Bob Heitkamp pitched all seven innings, allowing just one earned run and collecting six strikeouts.
Bluffton was held to four hits, the fourth coming from Ryan Fiely, who doubled. BC has the afternoon off and will take on Eastern Mennonite tonight at 6:30. It's a chilly 65 degrees outside right now but with mostly sunny skies.
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Sunday, March 4, 5:35 p.m.
The weather situation is starting to improve here in Sarasota as the clouds are beginning to break up and it's now 80 degrees. The entire area has been hit hard with rain showers the past couple days and the tournament directors are scheduled to check out the fields early this evening to view their status. The forcast for tomorrow says all the precipitation will be all gone but temperatures are expected to top out in the upper 60s tomorrow.
The coaches are set for their annual pre-tournament meeting tonight.
