The Beavers posted a .500 record over their final 22 games to overcome a 3-15 start to the season. The 13 wins marked Bluffton’s fifth straight season with double-digit wins as BC finished the campaign with a 13-25 overall record and a 6-12 mark in the Heartland Conference for sixth place.
The top four teams in the league will meet this weekend at Hanover College to determine the 2001 HCAC champion and league representative to the NCAA tournament.
Anderson won the first two games of the series last weekend before the Beavers came from behind to close out the season in successful fashion with a win in game three. Bob Heitkamp drilled a two-RBI single in the first inning, while Brad Buckingham and Jeff Haulman both produced RBIs in the second inning, and BC scored two unearned runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 6-5 lead.
Anderson launched homeruns in the sixth and seventh innings to tie the score at 8-8 before Buckingham doubled in the top of the eighth inning and scored on an RBI single by Haulman. Wes Hall tossed the final three innings to pick up his fourth win of the season after taking over for Bill Bechtel in the sixth inning. The duo combined to strike out four and scatter 10 hits, while BC produced 15 hits as Heitkamp, Haulman and Todd Pickthorn all had three hits apiece.
Haulman and Pickthorn each had two hits in the first game of the double header but Bluffton fell to the Ravens 5-1. BC was dealt an 18-1 loss to AU in Friday’s nine-inning contest.
Final statistics, all-conference awards and team awards will be announced at a later date.
