LA CROSSE, Wis. (May 16, 2025) - The No. 2-seed Buena Vista baseball team opened the NCAA Regional Tournament on Friday afternoon against No. 3-seed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, but it was the Stags using the long ball on a blustery day to hand the Beavers a tough 23-3 setback inside of Copeland Park.
CMS scored in all nine innings of the game and hit seven home runs while 12 of its 18 total hits went for extra-bases.
The Stags jumped out to the early 1-0 lead in the first with a solo home run and then erupted for seven runs in the second inning off of starter
Mark Eddie. After a strikeout to begin the inning, eight straight batters would reach base for CMS. The big blow was a grand slam to left center field that made it 7-0.
The Beavers got on the board in the fourth inning with their only runs of the game. Senior
Evan Taylor was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and then advanced to third on a single to right from fellow senior
Joel Garcia. Freshman
Kaden Struck and junior
Connor Zegar later added RBI singles to make it 2-0 before an infield single from freshman
Cooper Sobeck with two outs added the final run.
Alex Henderson hit three of the Stags' seven long balls in the game and finished 3-for-6 with eight RBI. As a team, CMS has now hit 66 home runs this season.
Garcia reached base three times for the Beavers, recording a pair of singles and was hit by a pitch. Senior
Evan Taylor was hit by two pitches in the game, but remains stuck on 240 career base hits. All eight of the hits for BVU in the contest were singles.
Eddie suffered the loss on the mound and is now 9-2 on the season. He was tagged for 12 runs and 10 hits over four innings while walking four and striking out five. The Beavers, now 32-11 on the year, then used five relief pitchers to close out the game who all tossed one inning each.
BVU will look to keep its season alive on Saturday as it will take on No. 4-seed Bethany Lutheran College in an elimination game at 11 a.m. The two teams faced each other to begin the season in Mankato, Minn., with the Beavers taking 2-of-3 in that series.
The winner of Saturday's match-up will advance to play the loser of No. 1 UW-La Crosse and No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 6 p.m.
