Baseball Drops in Doubleheader with Bluffton

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Anna Maria College baseball team lost a pair of games against Bluffton University on Sunday March 5th. Bluffton was victorious in both outings, posting a 3-0 win in game one and a 14-1 victory in game two. The doubleheader marked the season opener for the Beavers. 

GAME ONE

The Beavers opened up scoring in the bottom of the fourth as Blake Fox was the first player to cross home plate in the season opener on an AMCAT fielding error. Jeff Arnett added a run off a wild pitch moving their lead to 2-0 at the bottom of the fourth. At the bottom of the sixth, Adam Duncan scored their final run off of a hard ground ball to second base by Ryan Golden. This sealed the Beavers first 3-0 win of the season against the AMCATS. 

Matt Leahey(Rutland, Mass.) and Jonathan Roy(Worcester, Mass.) both recorded a hit in the loss for the AMCATS.

Dyson Bowman pitched for the Beavers and and gave up no runs in five innings. He had a total of ten strikeouts and only gave up three hits and one walk. 

Camden Brown(Gardner, Mass.) scattered seven hits and two runs (one earned) over five innings. Brown gave up two walks and also posted two strikeouts. 

Bluffton totaled seven hits in game one. Reid Maus lead the Beavers going two for three at the plate. Ryan Golden notched one RBI to lead the Beavers to victory in game one.

GAME TWO

Bluffton took an early 3-0 lead at the top of the second inning as Jeff Arnett scored on a wild pitch and Luke Hickey recorded two RBI's by running in Chase Lawniczak and Tanner Hodges off a singled, advanced throw to second. 

Bluffton pulled even farther ahead in the top of the fifth after they added five more runs. At the top of the sixth and seventh inning the Beavers added six final runs. This would end scoring for the Beavers as the AMCATS were able to tally one run by Phillip Antonucci IV off an error at the bottom of the seventh (14-1).

At the plate, the AMCATS combined for seven hits. Leahey went two-for-two at the plate and Roy went two-for-three to lead the AMCATS. 

Matt Elliot(Attleboro, Mass.) pitched four innings for Anna Maria and scattered 5 hits and 8 runs (6 earned). He walked four batters and struck out two.

Bluffton totaled 11 hits, led by Hickey with three hits and three RBI's. Austin Goetzman notched two hits and two RBIs in the victory for Bluffton.