STORM LAKE, Iowa (Mar. 27, 2025) - What began as a nice pitcher's duel through the first four innings quickly changed in the fifth when Buena Vista broke things open with a 10-run inning en route to a 13-0 (7 inn.) home victory over Nebraska Wesleyan on Thursday night to begin the three-game series.

Both starting pitchers were locked in through the first three innings as each side managed only a pair of singles during that stretch. BVU broke the scoreless game in the fourth by plating three runs and taking advantage of a pair of defensive miscues by the Prairie Wolves. Senior Drew Taylor began the rally with a one-out single and then came all the way around to score from first one batter later when freshman Kaden Struck lined a ball toward the line in left that was dropped by the left fielder and rolled all the way into the bullpen. Junior Connor Zegar then doubled off the wall in the left which moved Struck to third. Sophomore Brandon Jenkins drove in Struck with an RBI groundout while Zegar later scored on an error by the third baseman.

Senior Morgan Smith struck out two of his seven batters of the game in the fifth inning before he would then enjoy a lengthy rest in the dugout while the Beaver offense exploded in the bottom half. Junior Tegan Bock led off the inning with a walk and then stole second. Senior Evan Taylor followed with another walk and then each advanced on a double steal, and on the play the catcher over threw third base allowing Bock to score. Senior Joel Garcia doubled home a run to make it 5-0, Struck followed with an RBI single, and freshman Cooper Sobeck later added a two-run single to push the margin to 8-0. The Taylor's capped the scoring with Evan tacking on a sacrifice fly for the first out of the inning before Drew drove home a run with an RBI single to make it 10-0.

After having to make multiple trips down to the bullpen to remain loose during the 33-minute bottom of the fifth, Smith came back out to pitch the sixth and made quick work of the Prairie Wolves yet again by throwing only six pitches, including his ninth and final strikeout of the game to end the inning.

BVU went to its bench in the sixth inning by using three pinch hitters and got back-to-back one-out singles but those runners were both stranded at first and second.

Junior Peyton Thomas, making his first varsity appearance in nearly two years, took over for Smith on the mound in the seventh and worked around a two-out single to record his second punch out of the inning to end the game by the run rule.

Garcia and Drew Taylor each had two hits in the game with Taylor also getting hit by a pitch, stealing one base and scoring a pair of runs. Struck was 1-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, Sobeck added a hit and drove in three, while Bock chipped in with a hit, two stolen bases and two runs scored.

Smith earned the win and is now 3-0 on the year and 19-8 in his career. He's now tied for third on the program's all-time career wins list with both Jon Ringblom (2011-14) and Bill Drummond (1963-66).

Buena Vista improves to 13-4 overall (5-0 A-R-C) while the Prairie Wolves drop to 11-5 on the year (1-3 A-R-C). The two teams will wrap up the series on Friday, Mar. 28, with a doubleheader starting at 3:30 p.m.