STORM LAKE, Iowa (April 24, 2021) - The Buena Vista baseball team stepped out of conference play on Saturday and pulled of a big upset of top-ranked Washington University-St. Louis by sweeping a doubleheader from the Bears by scores of 8-2 and 3-1.

The Beavers were at the top of their game all afternoon and got stellar pitching of their own in the process.  Senior Tyler Tennyson got the job done with both the arm and the bat in the opener as he tossed 7.1 innings, scattering six hits and allowing just two runs.  He also went 4-for-5 at the plate with a double and three RBI.

BVU went up 2-0 in the first on an RBI ground out from Caden Mathewson followed by the first of Tennyson's four hits - an RBI single to right - that made it 2-0.  The Bears tied things up in the second with a two-run home run over the fence in left, and that's how things stood until Tennyson put the Beavers in the lead for good with his two-strike single to center.  The team then got the help of a throwing error in the sixth that scored two before Mathewson and Tennyson each tacked on RBI in the seventh for a 7-2 margin.  Tyler Stoltze capped the scoring with an RBI single up the middle in the eighth.  The Bears came into the game with a staff ERA of 1.50.

Aside from Tennyson's four-hit performance, the Beavers also got two hits, including a double from Calvin Harris, while Mathewson and Ryler McGregor each had two hits.

Aiden Brock got the final two outs of the eighth to get it a five-run lead before Harris took over in the ninth to work around a hit to strike out the side.

That momentum carried over into game two as BVU tallied 12 more hits while holding the Bears to just four.  

Senior Michael Demers had a perfect game going into the sixth inning before Wash U registered a leadoff double on the first pitch down the left field line for its first baserunner.  Later in the inning, the Bears broke a scoreless game with a two-out single.

That lead was short-lived as the Beavers came right back in the home half with a solo home run from Jackson Smith to straight away center field.  It was the designated hitter's first career home run.  

Harris followed with a single to right that forced the Bears (21-3) to go to their bullpen, and after the pitching change, Tennyson laced a 1-0 pitch down the right field line for a double that scored Harris all the way from first.

Jordan Mathewson gave BVU a big insurance run with a double of his own before being thrown out at third trying to stretch it into a triple.

Demers pitched into the eighth inning, but after a leadoff single, he was relieved by Brock who came on and walked his first batter to put runners at first and second with no outs, but the Beaver defense came up big with a big force out at third on a bunt attempt, a fielder's choice at second and a strikeout to end the threat.  Harris then came on to pitch a perfect ninth, including a strikeout to end it for his team-leading fifth save,.

Tennyson added two more doubles and finished 2-for-3 with Harris leading the way with three hits, including a double.  Logan Mueller and Easton Bahr also added two hits.

Buena Vista improves to 11-16 overall and will look to go for the series sweep on Sunday afternoon when the two teams meet back out on the diamond for a single game at 1:00 p.m.