May 3, 2016
By: Ryan Schadewald, sports information assistant

Stats

DEFIANCE, Ohio - The perfect elixir when the Beavers have needed a quick pick-me-up this season has been rival Defiance College. For the second time in two weeks, Bluffton has busted up a losing streak of at least three games against the Yellow Jackets. The Beavers capped a season sweep at Defiance with a 7-4 victory on Tuesday, May 3, 2016. Bluffton Improved to 13-24 overall and 8-16 in the Heartland Conference, while Defiance fell to 17-20 and 10-14 in the HCAC. It marks Bluffton's fourth sweep of DC in the past nine years, but the first time since it went to a three-game series.

The home team went up 1-0 with an unearned tally in the bottom of the second, but Bluffton responded with four scores in the top of the third. Junior Luke Hickey (Toledo/Whitmer) doubled home Brandon Marable (Columbus/Hamilton Township) to tie the game. Clayton Siders (Delaware/Worthington Christian) and Jason Colliver (Beavercreek) followed with consecutive singles for a 2-1 lead. Austin Prosser (Galion) bunted home Siders before Colin Gregory's (Fremont/Clyde) RBI single plated Colliver for the 4-1 lead.

Defiance knotted it up with a run in the home half of the third and two more in the fourth. Tanner Hamilton's (Centerville) ground ball put Bluffton up for good, 5-4, when Colliver crossed the dish in the fifth inning. Gregory continued to impress, driving in a pair of insurance runs in the Bluffton eighth as the Beavers opened a 7-4 lead.

Hickey, Colliver and Gregory all notched two hits for the victors. Gregory led the Beavers with three RBI, while Colliver scored three times. Siders crossed the plate twice.

Junior Jaylen Von Sossan (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) improved to 2-3 with the victory. He allowed four runs, two earned, on eight hits with just one walk. Taylor Gambrell (Bowling Green) was lights out in four innings of relief, He limited the Jackets to just two hits with two strikeouts, needing only 49 pitches to earn a four-inning save, his second of the season.

Bluffton will put the finishing touches on its 2016 season when the Beavers travel to Lexington, Ky., this weekend for a three-game series with the Transylvania Pioneers. The first game is set for 4 p.m. on Friday, May 6.

BEAVERS-