DECORAH, Iowa (Apr. 4, 2026) - Mother Nature forced the suspension of game one of the three-game Buena Vista baseball weekend series at Luther College on Friday morning,so the two teams completed that game and played the doubleheader directly after, but it was the Norse coming out on top of all three contests to earn the series sweep.

Friday's game was halted due to rain in the top of the ninth inning with two outs. The two sides took the field on Saturday afternoon to resume play, but a fly out ended the first game as Luther went on to win 11-2. BVU mounted a ninth inning rally in game two by scoring two runs but couldn't quite overcome a four-run deficit as the Norse held off the Beavers, 4-2. Luther then used a four-run second inning of the finale to take control en route to an 11-1 (8 inn.) victory.

Connor Duong, Benjamin Byington and Jack Dalagher all went 2-for-4 in the opener of the series. Of the 21 combined hits in the game, the Norse had the only two extra-base hits.

Buena Vista was hampered by a season-high six errors, defensively, which led to five unearned runs. Sophomore Dylan Johnson suffered the loss on the hill after allowing six runs (four earned) on six hits over 3.0 innings. Carson Brachtel allowed two runs and four hits over his 2.0 innings of relief, while Dan Meis, Christian Kaanapu and Logan Lape-Brinkman combined to allow only two runs and four hits over the final 3.0 innings.

BVU out-hit the Norse in game two of the series, 7-4, but couldn't string together enough big hits to push across enough runs. Luther scored single runs in the third, fourth, sixth and eighth innings to build a 4-0 advantage. The Beavers tried to mount a full comeback in the ninth by getting an RBI single from sophomore Teagen Kasel and a sacrifice fly from Dalagher that cut the deficit in half. The team got the tying run to the plate but a strikeout would end both the threat and the  game.

Byington added two more hits while Kasel also went 2-for-4 with the RBI. Ean McDaniel (1-4) took  the loss as he allowed two runs and three hits over 4.0 innings. He did strikeout three and walked only one. Junior Koleson Evans continues his strong performance on the mound and came in to give the team 3.0 innings of relief, allowing only one run on no hits while also striking out three.

The Norse (18-7, 8-3 A-R-C) got a pair of 2-run singles in the second inning of the finale to build the early 4-0 lead. They then tacked a run in the fifth and three more in the sixth to break things open. BVU scored its only run of the contest on a double from Byington in the seventh inning that made it 9-1. Luther closed out the game early in the eighth inning by plating the final two runs.

Reid Jacob was 2-for-3 to help lead the way at the plate for the Beavers while five others finished with one hit each. Struck joined Byington as the only players with extra-base hits as he also added a double.

Freshman Kalab Kuhl (0-4) allowed five runs and four hits over 4.1 innings to suffer the loss. He struck out five and walked three. As a staff, the Beavers issued nine walks in the game compared to just five punch outs.

Buena Vista (5-19, 1-9 A-R-C) heads to Pella on Tuesday, Apr. 7, for a doubleheader against Central College starting at 1  p.m.