Juniors Brad Buckingham (Berne, Ind./South Adams) and Ben Schwab (New Bavaria/Holgate) were both named to the all-tournament team of the EMU-Sarasota Spring Classic last week as the Bluffton College baseball team got their season underway at the fifth annual event in Sarasota, Florida.
Two runs or less was the margin of error in all but two games for the Beavers, however BC found themselves on the short end of that margin in each of their eight games down south. Now ready for their northern schedule, Bluffton will travel to Adrian on Wednesday and will host Wilmington on Saturday at Sears Field for a double-header beginning at 1:00.
Buckingham put together a six-game hitting streak during the week and went 11-24 (.458) from the plate. Schwab belted two homeruns on Thursday and was 6-18 (.333) at the plate for the week.
Freshman Dan Crider (Belleville/Clear Fork) also turned in a .333 offensive performance, going 5-15. Senior Luke Habegger (Berne, Ind./South Adams) and junior Dustin Kreis (Richwood/North Union) also collected five hits during the week.
Ten pitchers all saw action in Florida and were led by sophomore Eric Humpal (Medina) with a 0.00 ERA. Senior Bill Bechtel (Wapakoneta) and freshman Bob Heitkamp (Ft. Recovery) both logged at least 10 innings of work, while freshman Ryan Whitaker (Hicksville) went all seven innings in his collegiate debut.
Bluffton fell to Kenyon 2-0 and Eastern Mennonite 7-6 on Monday, then lost in extra innings to Moravian 8-5 on Tuesday afternoon before dropping a 10-0 decision to Juniata Tuesday evening. Three one-run losses awaited the Beavers on the final two days of the tournament, as BC fell to Juniata 6-5 and Kenyon 3-2 on Thursday, followed by a 6-3 loss to Moravian and a 5-4 loss to EMU on Friday.
