PELLA, Iowa (March 25, 2022) - The Buena Vista baseball team scored 7-0 runs in the first inning and that was more than enough for freshman starting pitcher Morgan Smith, as the Beavers rolled to a 13-5 road victory at Central College on Friday afternoon in game one of the three-game weekend series to begin American Rivers Conference play.

Logan Mueller highlighted the first inning with a big three-run home run to cap the scoring after Calvin Harris came through with a two-run single earlier in the frame.  The Dutch got two runs back in the home half and pushed across a third in the second to make it 7-3.  That was as close as Central would get from there as the Dutch struggled to rally against Smith, who struck out a career-high 14 batters in the contest over his seven innings of work.  

Freshman Joel Garcia singled home a pair with the bases loaded in the fourth to make it 9-3 while Grant Oseka singled home a run later in the inning to make it 10-3.  Garcia added the fourth run of the inning on a wild pitch to give the Beavers their largest lead at 11-3.

Central, which had its seven-game win streak sapped, doubled home a run in the sixth and tripled home its final one in the ninth.  BVU got back-to-back RBI doubles from Jordan Mathewson and Drew Taylor in the seventh.

All nine starters posted at least one base hit to lead BVU offensively with Mueller being one of five to record multi-hit contests.  The Beavers turned in 14 hits overall with the Dutch recording seven, including four that went for extra-bases.

Smith was charged with four runs (three earned) on six hits while walking only two.  He remains perfect overall this season at 3-0.  Spencer Holmes ptiched the final two innings of relief and allowed only an RBI triple in the ninth despite striking out five.

Buena Vista is now 9-6 overall and 1-0 in A-R-C play.  The Dutch dip to 9-2 overall (0-1 A-R-C).  The same two teams will take the field on Saturday for the final two games of the series with game one of the doubleheader set to begin at 12:00 p.m.