Written by Tim Gallagher, BVU Assistant Director of Communications

Peyton Renning off to a fast start for Beavers

STORM LAKE - After playing baseball since he could walk, Peyton Renning has come to realize it's a game of failure. A hitter, for example, is a huge success if he reaches base three times out of 10. That means he's likely failed the other seven times.

So, it wasn't the end of the world when Renning, a Buena Vista University outfielder, went hitless in his first eight at-bats to start his senior season. Oh, he was awfully quiet on the 8-hour bus ride home after two narrow late-inning setbacks to No. 17-ranked Webster University of St. Louis, Mo.

The sky, however, wasn't about to fall."I had grown some facial hair and I shaved that off when we got home," Renning says with a smile. "I thought about cutting my hair, but I didn't."

Baseball players are creatures of superstition. They'll do lots of things to change their mojo. For Renning, though, going hitless may happen sporadically. The secret to success involves limiting those stretches.

And he did the following weekend, breaking out in a big way, collecting 12 hits in 18 at-bats as the Beavers split a 4-game set against Grinnell College in Topeka, Kan. Renning's offensive outburst, which spiked his average to .462, earned him American Rivers Conference Male Athlete of the Week honors.

As a veteran hitter, Renning also realizes luck can play a role in reaching base. His first collegiate hit came in his first collegiate at-bat his freshman season. It wasn't a screaming line drive to right-center. "I looped one over the shortstop," he admits with a smile. "I didn't get all of it."

A line drive snared by a diving outfielder cancels out a swinging bunt or a bloop. That's the law of baseball averages over a season, a concept Renning, who was raised in this sport, knows well.

The son of BVU Athletics Hall of Famers Marc and Kim (Beckman) Renning, of Carroll, grew up playing football, basketball and baseball. He also appeared in the Drake Relays and four Iowa High School State Track Meets for the Carroll Tigers. He comes by his multi-sport interest honestly, as his mother played basketball and competed in track and field at BVU, while his father played football and baseball for the Beavers.

Renning remains humble and grateful for his family support network which also includes, but isn't limited to, his grandparents and younger sister, Sydney. In all his years in playing at Carroll and for BVU, he can't remember a game in which his mother or his father (often both) weren't in the bleachers offering support.

"Buena Vista was always my No. 1 choice for college," Renning says. "That's because of my parents and Coach (Steve) Eddie, who was the first to recruit me and was always so energetic about baseball and BVU."

"Peyton has had a great career," Eddie says as a spring trip to Tucson, Ariz., begins. "Peyton is a dynamic player who can help us win a game in many ways. He's also an emotional leader for us, meaning he has a consistent mindset each day, whether it's at practice or in a game."

Renning actually had to leave the practice when word came from the American Rivers Conference that he had won the weekly athlete award. "We had a short practice on Monday night, but I had to leave early for a class," he says. "I grabbed my phone after I changed and had some texts congratulating me."

He smiled then dashed to his performance capstone course in which he's writing a paper about Rock Steady Boxing, a practice whereupon patients attempt to fend off the effects of Parkinson's by boxing. Renning saw the practice play out during an internship at St. Anthony's Regional Hospital in Carroll.

The human performance/exercise science major hopes to land a position in that career field upon his graduation from BVU this May. Before that time, however, he's got plenty of other papers to finish and pitchers to face. He continued his hitting streak in the first five games in Arizona, collecting 10 hits in 19 at-bats, driving in nine runs while scoring five times. The early-season surge has him excited about the potential for this 2019 Beavers club.

"We gained a lot of experience in 2018," he says. "The freshmen who played last year are now sophomores and they're playing well. Our freshman pitchers this year are helping us with depth. And, every starter this year played last year, which helps us a lot defensively."

Renning believes that if the hitters and pitchers remain consistent, these Beavers may ultimately have something to say about the race for the conference crown.

"This year," he says, "we feel we have something to prove."