STORM LAKE, Iowa (Mar. 25, 2025) - The Buena Vista baseball team finally got to play its first true home opener on Tuesday against Wartburg College and the Beavers were able to grind out a 6-4 victory over the Knights to remain perfect in American Rivers Conference play.

The two teams combined to issue 22 walks and stranded a total of 24 runners overall with a total of 11 different pitchers being used.

Wartburg broke a scoreless game in the fourth with a sacrifice fly to right field but stranded two runners in the inning. Buena Vista came right back in the bottom half with freshman Kaden Struck and junior Connor Zegar earning back-to-back walks with one out and then both moved up one base on a balk. Sophomore Brandon Jenkins proceeded to drive both in with a double before later scoring with two outs on a bloop single down the right field line from junior Tegan Bock.

BVU extended the lead to 5-1 in the sixth with a pair of bases loaded walks but left the bases loaded for the second time in the game.

The Knights threatened in the seventh by loading the bases with no outs before senior Zach Pleggenkuhle came on in relief and got a big ground ball hit to sophomore Jake Eddie at second who started a 4-6-3 double play as a run scored. Another run scored in the inning on a wild pitch before another ground ball to Eddie ended any further damage.

Wartburg (8-7, 2-2 A-R-C), which was held to only three hits in the game, closed the gap to 5-4 in the eighth by scoring another run on a wild pitch before BVU came right back in the bottom half as Struck came through in the clutch with a two-out RBI single on an 0-2 pitch that he lined the opposite way to left which made it 6-4.

Pleggenkuhle came back out for his third inning of relief in the ninth and worked around a two-out walk with a pair of strikeouts in the inning en route to his third save of the year.

Freshman Dylan Johnson came on in relief in the third inning and went on to earn the win after allowing an unearned run over 1.1 innings while striking out three and walking two. Gunnar Russell made his second career start for the Beavers and pitched the first 2.2 innings and allowed one hit and walked two. Pleggenkuhle allowed just the one run without issuing a hit while walking four and striking out four.

Jenkins was 2-for-2 at the plate for BVU with a double, triple, a pair of walks, two RBI and a pair of runs scored. Struck also had two hits, including a triple. Four of the Beavers seven hits went for extra bases.

Buena Vista is the only remaining unbeaten team in A-R-C play and improves to 12-4 overall (4-0 A-R-C). The team is scheduled to return to the field on Friday, Mar. 28 to begin a three-game weekend series by hosting Neb. Wesleyan at 6 p.m.