STORM LAKE, Iowa (Apr. 8, 2025) - The Buena Vista baseball team returned home on Tuesday evening to host an American Rivers Conference doubleheader against Central College, and the two teams battled it out for 6.5 hours on the diamond with the Dutch rallying late in game one for a 9-6 victory before BVU escaped the nightcap with a 10-9 victory in 12 innings.

Senior Joel Garcia gave the Beavers a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning of game one when he belted his team-leading sixth home run of the year to score fellow senior Evan Taylor who had led off with his school-record setting 51st career double. BVU tacked on another run in the third when freshman Kaden Struck, this week's A-R-C Position Player of the Week, drove in Taylor with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.

Central got on the board in the fourth with an RBI double and that's how things stood until the eighth when the Dutch exploded for eight runs, including a pair of three-run home runs, to take a 9-3 lead. The Beavers tried to mount a comeback of their own in the bottom of the ninth with a two-run single from Garcia before Drew Taylor grounded out to make it 9-6. BVU had the tying run on deck but Struck would strike out on a full count pitch to end the game, snapping his 13-game overall hitting streak.

The Dutch had seven of their 13 hits in the game during their eight-run inning. All six of BVU's hits in the game came from their first three hitters in the line-up. Garcia finished 2-for-4 with four RBI and a run scored while Evan Taylor was 2-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch and also scored three times. Drew Taylor was 2-for-5 with a stolen base and one RBI.

Johnny Vallinch made the start on the hill for the Beavers and pitched four strong innings, allowing just one run and five hits while striking out five. Freshman Dylan Johnson followed up with three scoreless innings, allowing a pair of hits and striking out five. Senior Zach Pleggenkuhle (2-1) came on to start the eighth and would be charged with his first loss of the year after being charged with seven runs on seven hits.

The Beavers built another lead in game two with a pair of runs in the second and four more in the third to go in front 6-0. Struck scored the first run on a wild pitch before Cooper Sobeck recorded an RBI single later in the inning to make it 2-0. Struck came through with the big base knock in the third with a three-run double before Pleggenkuhle later tripled home a run to make it a six-run advantage.

Central (12-12, 4-8 A-R-C) chipped away at that lead with solo home runs in both the fourth and fifth innings that made it 6-2. BVU got the two runs back in its half of the fifth with an RBI double from Sobeck followed by an RBI groundout from Tegan Bock. Drew Taylor made it a 9-2 cushion in the sixth after scoring on a wild pitch.

Just as it did in the opener, Central put up a crooked number late in game two by plating seven runs in the seventh inning that brought the Dutch all the way back to tie things up at 9-9.

The Beavers had chances to win the game in both the 10th and 11th innings but stranded five combined runners. They had the bases loaded with one out in the 11th but a line drive by Evan Taylor was snagged at second base and then thrown quickly to first for the inning-ending double play.

Drew Taylor nearly ended the game with one out in the 12th as he launched a ball deep to left that hit high off the fence and ended in his 48th career double. One batter later, Struck put an end to the marathon of a game by lining a single into right center field that scored Taylor just ahead of the throw which end up being slightly up the third base line.

Struck, who entered the day leading the A-R-C in batting average, finished the game 4-for-6 at the plate with a double, four RBI and two runs scored. Sobeck doubled and finished 2-for-6 with two RBI while Bock and Zegar also chipped in with two hits apiece. Garcia and Evan Taylor each walked twice in the game and now Garcia moves with two walks of tying the program's all-time record of 90.

Sophomore Jake Eddie came on and pitched six innings of relief, allowing just two runs and six hits while striking out six and walking only one. 

Buena Vista is now 19-6 overall (11-2 A-R-C). The team steps out of conference play on Sunday, Apr. 13, to play a non-conference doubleheader at Concordia-Moorhead starting at 12 p.m.