The bats appeared to be in mid-season form on Friday as the Buena Vista baseball team began its 2017 campaign with a pair of lopsided victories down in St. Louis over both Fontbonne and UW-Platteville, respectively.

Senior Kendall Candor drilled a two-run home run in the third inning of the opener against Fontbonne to cap a three-run inning and then drove in two more with a single in the fourth to make it a 7-0 contest.  Devon Harms began the scoring in the fourth with a two-run single through the right side for his first two RBI of the year.

Candor drove in his fifth run of the contest with a double off the wall in center in the eighth to make it 10-0.  Harms and Cale Ewald picked up bases loaded walks later in the frame as BVU tacked on five runs in the inning to make it a 14-0 advantage.

The Griffins (0-4) got their only to runs in the bottom of the eighth before the game ended via the run-rule after the half-inning ended.

Candor finished 3-for-4 at the dish with five RBI and two runs scored.  Michael Zellar went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored while Kolby Hilgenberg chimed in with two hits, two RBI and a pair of runs scored and Noah Paper added two hits and set a career-high with four runs scored.  Harms had the one hit and three RBI.

BVU turned in five extra-base hits in the contest, including the first career extra-base knock from Peyton Renning, who doubled to right center in the third and moved to third on a fielding error by the centerfielder on the play.

The offense was more than enough for Jacob Hadaway, who made his 23rd career start and picked up his 12th career victory (12-4).  The senior righthander went six innings, allowed five hits and no runs, struck out seven and walked only two.  Tate Holmes worked the final two innings and surrendered two runs on two hits while striking out two.

The Beavers then picked up right where they left off to begin the nightcap against the Pioneers.  Cam Johnson put BVU on the board in the top of the first inning with a three-run homerun to left field.

Freshman Bryce Rheault scored on a passed ball in the second before being hit by a pitch to drive in a run in the third.  Renning picked up an RBI on a single toward second to make it a 6-0 cushion.

The Beavers tacked on four more runs in the sixth, including a two-run single from Rheault for his first career RBI's. 

The Pioneers (1-1) were held to only one hit in the contest, and did not get a runner into scoring position until the sixth, but failed to score.

Paper led the way with three hits and two runs scored while Candor added two more hits and scored twice.  Cameron's first-inning blast was the team's only extra-base hit in the contest, as the team capitalized on 10 walks.

Jake Lewis got the start on the hill and worked six strong innings, allowing just the one hit, striking out five and walking three.  Gage Smart came on and worked a perfect seventh.

Buena Vista begins the year 2-0 and will look for its third straight triumph when it plays Fontbonne on Saturday in a game that has been pushed back to a 2:00pm start time.  The game will be broadcast locally on 97.5FM KBVU and streamed online at: http://streema.com/radios/The_Edge_KBVU_FM