Baseball | 5/10/2022 10:56:00 AM

Written by Josh Garcia
BVU Sports Information Student Intern

STORM LAKE, Iowa (May 9, 2022) - The Buena Vista baseball team is set to compete in the 2022 American Rivers Conference Baseball Tournament. As the winners of the top seed, the Beavers have a first round bye. They will matchup against the winner of Luther vs Coe. The double-elimination tournament  is set to begin May 12th and conclude May 14th. The winner of the tournament will receive an automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA Division III Championships.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Thursday, May 12
Game 1 - 11:00 a.m. - No. 4 Luther vs. No. 5 Coe at Daniels Park
Game 2 - 11:00 a.m. - No. 3 Nebraska Wesleyan vs. No. 6 Wartburg at Veterans Memorial Stadium
Game 3 - 2:00 p.m. - Game 2 Winner vs. No. 2 Loras
Game 4 - 5:00 p.m. - Game 1 Winner vs. No. 1 Buena Vista
Game 5 - 8:00 p.m. - Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser

Friday, May 13
Game 6 - 1:00 p.m. - Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner
Game 7 - 4:00 p.m. - Game 5 Winner vs. Lower Seeded Loser of Games 3 & 4
Game 8 - 7:00 p.m. - Game 7 Winner vs. Higher Seeded Loser of Games 3 & 4
(Exception: If one of the game 3 or 4 Losers already has had a bye, that team will play in Game 7, regardless of seed.)

Saturday, May 14
Game 9 - 10:00 a.m. - Game 8 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser
Game 10 - 1:00 p.m. - Game 6 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner
Game 11 - 4:00 p.m. - Game 6 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner (if necessary)

BROADCAST INFO
Live Stats: https://kohawkathletics.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary
Live Video: https://team1sports.com/coe/

BUENA VISTA CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT HISTORY
As a program, the Beavers enter the 2022 conference tournament with three previous tournament championships on their resume - the latest of which came in the 2019 season. The 2019 squad entered the competition as the second seed. In their opening game, they knocked off third ranked Luther 1-0. They would go on to knock off top ranked Coe in two straight games, by scores of 4-0 and 5-1, to claim the tournament crown. The 2022 Beavers squad will have some championship pedigree in the 2022 tournament with Logan Mueller, Jackson Smith, Austin Scott, and Reed Fitzke returning from that 2019 squad.

2022 will mark the fourth time the Beavers have qualified as the number one seed. All-Time as the top seed, the Beavers are 7-2.

The Beavers are 3-9 vs Coe and 5-2 vs Luther in their tournament history.

In 16 years of tournament experience, Head Coach Steve Eddie holds a career record of 23-23.

ABOUT COE
The Kohawks enter the tournament 17-18 overall and 12-12 in conference play. Their offense finished with the seventh ranked offense with 127 runs scored. The lineup did not hit for much power in the regular season, finishing last in both homeruns and slugging percentage. However the team remained a threat on the the basepaths stealing a league high 60 bases (76 attempts). Their leading hitter was TJ Johnson. The senior infielder hit .360 with 36 hits, 6 doubles, a homerun, 15 RBI, 19 runs, and 11 stolen bases (15 attempts). The pitching staff finished ranked 2nd with an ERA of 4.36. Sophomore Tyce Johnson led the staff going 2-3 while posting a 4.01 ERA and 29 strikeouts across 33.2 innings.

ABOUT LUTHER
The Norse enter the tournament 21-18 overall and 13-11 in conference play. Their offense finished with the ninth ranked offense with 123 runs scored. The lineup finished about middle of the pack power wise, but ranked tied for last with an on base percentage of .346. When Norse batters managed to reach base, they were a threat on the basepaths having finished second with 38 stolen bases (49 attempts). Their leading hitter was Luke Plunkett. The senior catcher hit .364 with 32 hits, 5 doubles, a triple, 2 homeruns, 14 RBI, 22 runs, and 3 stolen bases (5 attempts). The pitching staff ranked first with an ERA of 4.01. Ryan Manternach was the ace of staff performing as one of the conference's best during regular season. The senior pitcher went 2-2 while posting a 1.67 ERA and 23 strikeouts across 37.2 innings.

ABOUT BUENA VISTA
The top seeded Beavers enter the tournament 26-12 overall and 18-6 in conference play. Their offense finished ranked first with 197 runs scored. The lineup posed a threat with both power and speed finishing second with a .458 slugging percentage and third with 28 stolen bases (36 attempts). The top ranked offense finished with two hitters ranked in the top 10 for batting average, Evan Taylor and Logan Mueller. Taylor was among the conferences best, posing a standout debut regular season. The freshman catcher/DH hit a league high .438 to go along with 42 hits, 14 doubles, 3 triples, 2 homeruns, 29 RBI, 27 runs, and a stolen base. Mueller was a threat in both the box and on the bases finishing tenth in batting average and fourth in steals. The senior infielder hit .382 with 29 hits, 5 doubles, a homerun, 15 RBI, 24 runs, 3 sacrifice hits, and 9 steals (10 attempts). The pitching staff ranked 5th with an ERA of 5.14. The staff generated a lot of swing and misses compiling the second most strikeouts with 243. Junior Mason Gehling led the staff going 6-0 while posting a 1.87 ERA and 47 strikeouts across 33.2 innings. Following Gehling was Dalton Glenn. The junior went 4-0 while posting a 4.33 ERA with 44 strikeouts across 43.2 innings. Morgan Smith went 2-3 while posting a 4.67 ERA with 51 strikeouts across 44.1 innings. Defensively the Beavers finished with the top fielding percentage in the conference at .971.

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