Buena Vista rallied twice in the final two innings of Saturday afternoon's opener before finally hanging on to a thrilling 6-5 victory over visiting Dubuque.  The Spartans, however, handed BVU just its second home loss of the year in the home and series finale by winning 4-0 in game two.

With BVU trailing 2-1 in the fifth, Kendall Candor worked the count full and fouled off a few tough pitches before blasting a no-doubter over the fence in left to give the Beavers their first lead of the contest at 4-2.

Dubuque came back and tied things at 4-4 an inning later but senior Brandon Wessels wanted to make the most of his final day playing in front of the home fans by lining a sharp single to left with the bases loaded to put BVU back in front at 6-4.

The Spartans again threatended in the seventh by getting runners to second and third with only one out.  Wes Onken, who had come in to record a big strikeout in the sixth, worked out of the jam, despite allowing a run to score on a ground out, as the Beavers hung on for a one-run victory.

Neil Marshall extended his hitting streak to 21 games with two more hits at the top of the order while also scoring twice.  Wessels also totaled two hits and had two RBI with Candor's home run going as the only extra-base hit for BVU.

Jake Lewis surrendered two earned runs over 4.1 innings for the Beavers before giving way to Dalton Mason.  Mason was then tagged for two more runs over the next 1.1 innings before Onken worked the final 1.1 and allowed a run on one hit.

Game two was a pitcher's duel throughout with each team being held to only four hits.  The Spartans, however, were able to capitalize on a few of theirs by scoring two runs on a single in the fifth and adding third in the sixth on a fielder's choice.

BVU twice had runners at the corners and no outs but failed to score each time.  The Beavers stranded six runners on base in the contest with Dubuque stranding eight.

Keenan Jones was strong for BVU but didn't get much run support.  He went six innings, allowing three runs on three hits, while striking out six and walking only two.  Senior Tyson Valentine held Dubuque scoreless over two innings of relief, allowing just one hit before Kendall Hazel surrendered an unearned run in the ninth.  He also hit two batters and struck out one.

Bennett Mann went 2-for-3 including a triple while also walking once to lead BVU at the plate.  Marshall had his 21-game hit streak snapped after going 0-for-4.  It's only the second time all year he has failed to reach base in any capacity in a game. 

Three of Dubuque's four hits in the contest were doubles.

Buena Vista finishes the year 12-2 on its home turf and is now 22-8 overall (13-5 IIAC).  The team will travel to Coe College on Tuesday, April 26 for a 1:00pm doubleheader to start a stretch of 10 straight road games to end the year.  Following Tuesday's twinbill, the team heads to Decorah for a four-game weekend series at Luther College beginning on Friday, April 29 at 1:00pm.