April 8, 2017
FLORENCE, Ky. - The Bluffton University baseball team struggled at the plate, dropping both games at Mount St. Joseph on Saturday, April 8, 2017. MSJ improved to 12-12 overall and 6-5 in the Heartland Conference with the series victory, while Bluffton slipped to 11-10 and 4-7 in the HCAC.
Reid Maus (Hamilton/Badin) laced an RBI single to right center in the top of the fourth for a 1-0 Bluffton lead. That one run held up until the bottom of the seventh when MSJ finally broke up Jaylen Von Sossan's (Ottawa-Ottawa-Glandorf) perfect game with a hit by pitch. The no hitter ended with a base hit one batter later before an RBI double made it 1-1 heading to the eighth.
Garrett Hogan led off the home eighth with a home run and the Lions worked around a pair of Bluffton baserunners in the ninth to secure the 2-1 victory.
Von Sossan was on point, limiting the Lions to two runs on three hits over 7.2 innings of work. He fanned seven and issued just one free pass. Kevin Every (Zanesville/West Muskingum) fired a strikeout to the only batter he faced in the MSJ eighth.
Maus finished with three hits, while senior Clayton Siders (Delaware/Worthington Christian) added two safeties for the Beavers.
The Mount put up a run in the second and two unearned scores in the sixth before Bluffton finally got on the board with two tallies in the eighth following three consecutive balks by the home team. MSJ homered with one out in the eighth for the final 4-2 margin in the series clincher.
Blake Fox (Berne, Ind./South Adams) went 2-of-4 in the final game of the series.
Sophomore Brantley Curnutte (Hilliard/Davidson) scattered eight hits over six innings, allowing three runs, just one earned, with four punchouts and no walks. Senior Kevin Every worked a shutout seventh and twin brother Austin Every (Zanesville/West Muskingum) struck out three in the eighth.
Bluffton welcomes rival Defiance College to Memorial Field for the first time this season on Tuesday, April 11. The first pitch is slated for 4:15 PM.
-BEAVERS-
