DEFIANCE--The Bluffton University baseball team swept a pair of games at rival Defiance College on Sunday, April 2, 2023. Bluffton improved to 10-7 overall and 4-1 in the Heartland Conference with its third and fourth straight victories.

The Beavers took a 1-0 lead in the third when sophomore Justin Maurer (Springfield/Kenton Ridge) laced an RBI single that plated Grant Hovest (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf). With the score knotted at one apiece, Coach Grandey called Kenny Schneider's (Sunbury/Big Walnut) number and the junior pinch hitter delivered. His two-run double picked up Nick Diana (Batavia/West Clermont) and Ezra Deitering (Ottawa/Miller City) for a 3-1 lead in the sixth.

Jack Towell (Batavia/West Clermont) and Diana pushed the lead to 5-1 an inning later. Towell and Maurer crossed the dish in the ninth, sealing Bluffton's 7-3 victory in game one.

Diana went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Schneider drove in two runs while Towell scored twice. Hovest and Towell drew three walks apiece.

Senior Jacob Boelkens (Millbury/Lake) turned in an outstanding start for the victors. He allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits with four strikeouts and a walk over seven innings. Jake Shaver (New London) fanned four and notched his first save, tossing two shutout innings.

Game two saw the Beavers jump out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first. Maurer launched a three-run bomb to left and Deitering followed with an RBI double to right field.

Three Defiance runs in the home half and another tally in the third knotted the game at four apiece through four frames.

Four straight hits and a Defiance error in the fifth added up to a 9-4 Bluffton advantage. Deitering and Austin Francis (Troy/Miami East) sandwiched run-scoring singles around an Evan Houseman (Springfield/Kenton Ridge) RBI double.

Bluffton blew it open with four more tallies in the seventh. The Beavers smacked five hits, including RBI base knocks from Francis and Towell. Hovest rapped a two-run single to left that propelled Bluffton to a 13-4 lead. Houseman's RBI groundout in the eighth capped off the 14-4 mercy-rule victory and Sunday sweep of the Jackets.

Deitering was a perfect 5-for-5 at the dish with two RBI and two runs scored. Hovest was 3-of-4, while Towell, Maurer, Diana, Houseman and Francis all smacked two hits apiece. Francis and Maurer both chipped in with three RBI.

Junior Seth Altman (Hilliard/Hilliard Davidson) worked five innings of scoreless relief for the win, allowing just three hits with three punchouts. Andrew Collinsworth (Westerville/South) gave up four runs on five hits but did not factor in the decision.

Bluffton will cap off its series at Defiance with a 4 p.m. meeting on Monday, April 3, 2023.

For more Bluffton University sports, visit www.blufftonbeavers.com