Tanner Hoops | Staff Writer
While students headed for home or somewhere tropical for Spring Break, the Buena Vista University (BVU) baseball, softball and men’s tennis teams all headed south for business trips.
The baseball team played eight games in seven days in Tucson, Arizona, and came away with six wins to push their overall record to 9-3 on the year. The Beavers began the trip by trouncing George Fox 24-3 before handing Cal Lutheran an 8-5 loss the next day. BVU was dealt a 13-8 loss to Carthage before splitting a doubleheader with Hamline, dropping game one 16-4 then winning game two 17-3. The Beavers followed that up with a 10-8 win against Colby before scoring eight runs over the final two innings to walk-off against Carthage by a score of 12-11. Buena Vista capped off the trip with a 12-9 victory over Williams.
“I thought we had some good wins against teams like California Lutheran, who we’ve never played before, but they’re usually really good,” Head Coach Steve Eddie said. “Everybody did pull their fair share. We got good production from the bottom of our lineup, everybody did their share, it was a different guy getting the big hit each and every day.”
The Beavers cracked this week’s D3 Baseball Rankings at #25, the only Iowa Conference team in the Top 25.
The Beaver softball team kept busy over the break playing nine games in five days in Clermont, Florida. The Beavers started the trip by blanking Scranton 4-0 before being handed a 5-0 setback by William Paterson. Buena Vista bounced back by shutting out D’Youville 5-0 before dubbing Maine-Farmington 9-1. BVU stuck to its winning ways with an 8-0 win over Elmhurst followed by a 7-3 win against Fontbonne. Carthage outlasted Buena Vista 6-4 in eight innings before the Beavers responded with a 2-1 over Chicago. BVU fell in the Spring Break finale against St. Thomas by a score of 4-3. The Beavers finished the trip with an overall record of 10-7.
The Beaver men’s tennis team traveled to Hilton Head, South Carolina, where it took part in four team duals over four days. St. Olaf swept Buena Vista 7-0 to open the trip before BVU fell to Millikin by a score of 8-1. Chris Habermann and Jesse Brace teamed up for the Beaver win against Milliken, an 8-4 triumph at #1 doubles. St. Thomas handed BVU a 9-0 setback before the Beavers ended the trip with an 8-1 victory against Greenville. In the victory, the Beavers swept all five singles matches that were played before earning the doubles point with wins at #2 and #3 doubles.
“South Carolina was a lot fun. The group of us five got along really well.,” sophomore Kyle Wiebers said, “The best part was that we got to spend a week doing what we all really enjoy, playing tennis.”
When the trip was all said and done, the Beavers overall record stands at 2-10.
Graphic by Nic Gibson
