Baseball Takes Series from Duhawks in Walk-off Fashion

Trailing by a run with two outs and no runners on in the bottom of the 12^th inning, junior Neil Eddie (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna) singles to right field to cap a dramatic come-from-behind victory for the Buena Vista baseball team on Sunday afternoon to wrap up its 2012 home schedule.  The Beavers dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker to start the day in game one.

After the first two were out in the 12th, sophomore Nick Schlecht (Omaha, Neb./Skutt) doubled just past a diving centerfielder to get the rally started.  After Joe Paletta (Omaha, Neb./Millard South) walked, Jesse Munsterman (St. Peter, Minn./St. Peter) picked up his second big two-out base hit of the contest, came through in the clutch again to plate Schlecht and score the game at 5-5.  Senior Brock Yossi (Dallas Center, Iowa/Dallas Center-Grimes) then drew a walk to load the bases before Eddie came through with the game-winner.  It was the second walk-off win in the series for BVU, which closes out its home schedule at 9-3 overall.

Loras took a 1-0 lead in the first inning before the Beavers answered with a Ryan Scheetz (Omaha, Neb./Millard North) RBI double to right center.  The Duhawks then regained the lead at 2-1 in the third before adding another in the fifth to push the margin to 3-1.

BVU, which rallied from two down in the eighth to win game one on Saturday, got a big two-run, game-tying double from Munsterman with one out in the sixth. 

Loras took the lead again in the eighth after three straight one-out singles, but did strand two runners on base.

BVU, as it did all game long answered back in the bottom half, getting a big lead-off double from Weston Foxx (Elkhorn, Neb./Elkhorn) down the right field line and he scored one batter later when Schlecht reached on an infield hit, but the throw to first was dropped by the second baseman who was covering.

The Duhawks jumped back in front in the 12^th with an RBI single, and after a runner got picked off first, still managed to get runners to first and second before Brennan Holm (Fairmont, Minn.) came on in relief to throw one pitch, get the ground ball right back to him and earn his first career victory.

Reggie Kock (Breda, Iowa/Ar-We-Va) got the start and went 4.2 innings, allowing three runs on six hits, while striking out five.  Cam Beatty (Omaha, Neb./Millard North) then came in and faced one batter before Griffin Hatten (Bancroft, Iowa/North Sentral Kossuth) took over for him and pitched 1.1 scoreless innings and striking out one.

James Stone (Des Moines, Iowa/Johnston), who picked up the win in Friday’s series opener after pitching the top of the ninth, came on and pitched 5.2 solid innings of relief, allowing two runs on eight hits and striking out seven, while not issuing a walk.

Munsterman finished 3-for-6 with three RBI, while Schlecht also finished with three hits, including two doubles, while scoring twice and driving in one.  Eddie’s game-winner was his second hit of the contest, while Foxx also added two hits and two runs scored.

Sophomore Jon Ringblom (Omaha, Neb./Millard North) was the hard-luck loser for the Beavers in the opener, throwing a complete-game three-hitter and striking out five. 

The Duhawks (19-17, 8-12 IIAC) scored their own run on a suicide squeeze play in the seventh after getting a lead-off double to start the inning.

Schletcht, Munsterman, along with sophomores Eric Croghan (Portsmouth, Iowa/Harlan) and Ryan Titman (Boone, Iowa/Boone) all had one hit for BVU.

Buena Vista is now 19-15 overall (11-9 IIAC) and will close out its regular season this upcoming week with a nine-inning road contest at Central College on Wednesday at 3:00pm before finishing with a three-game weekend series at Wartburg College beginning with Friday’s game at 6:00pm.

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