DECORAH, Iowa (Apr. 20, 2024) - For the first time in two years, the Buena Vista University baseball team dropped a conference series after being swept in a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Luther College by scores of 13-4 and 7-3.

After dropping Friday night's opener, the Beavers looked poised early on to put together a good offensive showing. They came out in the first inning and scored four times on an Evan Taylor RBI double, Zack Beekmann RBI single and a capped by a two-run double from Calvin Harris.

Luther came right back in the bottom of the second and got a three-run home run to make it 4-3 and never looked back. The Norse plated five runs in the fourth inning to take an 8-4 lead before adding four more in the fifth and one in the eighth.

Evan Taylor tallied two doubles in the game and accounted for two of the team's five hits overall. Luther had four players with multi-hit performances and pounded out 12 in the contest.

Ean McDaniel, who came in among the league leaders in wins, would be roughed up by allowing eight runs and seven hits over four innings. His counterpart, Ryan Manternach, pitched seven innings for the Norse and allowed three earned runs, five hits and struck out seven.

BVU fell behind 1-0 after two innings in the finale before Evan Taylor tied things up with a sacrifice fly in the third. Luther quickly regained the lead in the bottom of the third with one run before adding two more in the fourth to extend it lead to 4-1.

Grant Oseka gave BVU life by blasting a two-run home run in the sixth to make it 4-3. It was Oseka's fifth home run of the year, and he was the only Beaver to record a multi-hit performance. 

Eight different players recorded at least one hit for the Norse.

Mason Gehling made the start and took the loss, dropping his overall record to 4-3. He pitched 3.1 innings, allowed four runs (two earned) and six hits while also striking out six. Mark Eddie came on in relief and went the final 4.2 innings, allowing three runs and six hits while striking out five.

Buena Vista dips to 22-9 overall (11-5 A-R-C) and will travel to Nebraska Wesleyan for a doubleheader on Tuesday, Apr. 23. First pitch in Lincoln, Neb., is set for 1 p.m.