April 21, 2017
BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University baseball team jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back en route to a 7-4 victory over visiting Franklin College on a cool Friday, April 21, 2017. Franklin slipped to 17-13 and 9-8 in the Heartland Conference, while Bluffton snapped a 9-game skid and improved to 12-17 and 5-12 in the HCAC.
A catcher's interference set up five unearned runs for the Beavers in the bottom of the first inning. A bases loaded fielder's choice for Colin Gregory (Fremont/Clyde) made it 1-0 before four straight RBI singles pushed the spread to 5-0. Clayton Siders (Delaware/Worthington Christian), Chase Lawniczak (Toledo/Whitmer), Reid Maus (Hamilton/Badin) and Adam Duncan (Northwood/Lake) all lined up for the hit parade before the dust settled.
With Bluffton holding a four-run advantage, an RBI triple down the right field line by Austin Prosser (Galion) followed by a wild pitch made the score 7-1 heading to the eighth inning. The Grizzlies plated an unearned tally in the eighth and two more scores in the ninth before Kevin Every (Zanesville/West Muskingum) closed it out with a strikeout, sealing the 7-4 victory.
Jaylen Von Sossan (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) upped his season mark to 3-2 with another quality start for the Beavers. He scattered six hits over 7.2 innings while allowing just two runs, one earned. Every struck out two in 1.1 innings of relief.
Clayton Siders notched two hits for the victors and made a sensational twirling catch in center field.
Bluffton returns to work at 12 p.m. on Saturday, April 22, with game two of the series against the visiting Franklin College Grizzlies. Come out and support your Beavers!
-BEAVERS-
