The Buena Vista baseball team returns the bulk of its roster after winning last year's American Rivers Conference regular season title and is aiming to make it back-to-back championships here in 2023.

BVU finished last season at 27-14 overall, including a strong 18-6 mark in conference play. Head coach Steve Eddie, set to begin his 23rd season at the helm will have no problem turning to experience throughout his line-up this season, as 11 players who started at least 20 games a year ago will be back in uniform. Among those is the reigning American Rivers Conference Position Player of the Year, sophomore Evan Taylor, who was also named D3baseball.com's Regional Rookie of the Year. During his freshman campaign, Taylor led the way with a .407 average, 65 hits, 42 RBI and a .654 slugging percentage.

Taylor was among six Beavers selected to the All-Conference Team which also landed one Honorable Mention honoree.  Fifth-year senior Logan Mueller, who posted a .339 average, with 38 hits, scored 27 runs, and also was a perfect 12-for-12 in stolen base opportunities, finished right behind Taylor in average and was named a Second Team All-Conference selection after hitting .382 during league play, including 15 RBI and five runs scored. Senior Jordan Mathewson returns and looks to again anchor half of the middle infielder. The second baseman is coming off his second straight First Team All-Conference campaign. During A-R-C play, he hit .340 with six doubles, two triples, two home runs, 16 RBI, and scored 23 runs. Senior Mason Gehling will be among the group of veteran arms returning for Eddie on the mound this season. He joined Mathewson on the First Team a season ago after winning a league-best six games against conference foes and going 7-2 overall. During league play, he had a 1.87 ERA, struck out 47 batters over 33 innings of work.

Seniors Grant Oseka, Calvin Harris and Dalton Glenn all return after joining Mueller on the Second Team. Oseka will be the veteran presence behind the plate where he threw out 14 potential base stealers a season ago. He also finished fifth on the team with 40 hits, led the way with five home runs and was fourth with 38 RBI. Harris, meanwhile, started all 35 games in which he appeared, finished fourth on the team with a .324 average and was third with 14 doubles. He also made 15 appearances out of the bullpen as the team's primary closer and posted six saves over 15.2 innings of work. Glenn tied for third on the team with four wins overall while leading the way with 69 total innings of work.



Also back in the starting role this season is sophomore Mark Eddie, who was second on the team with five wins during his rookie campaign to go along with a team-leading 79 strikeouts. Fellow sophomore Morgan Smith, who was an Honorable Mention selection, started nine games, pitched 63.2 innings and was second with 75 strikeouts against just 21 walks.

BVU hit .308 as a team in 2022 and scored the fourth-most runs in single-season history with 343 while setting a new program record with 105 doubles. On the mound, the hurlers combined to strike out 394 batters which was second-most all-time.

Eddie, who earned Conference Coach of the Year accolades for the third time, is also excited about the freshman class he has added to the roster. A total of 17 first-year players will join the veteran depth already in place and look to battle for playing time.

First pitch of the 2023 campaign takes place this weekend when the Beavers play a three-game weekend series down in Topeka, Kan., against Hamline University. They will return to Topeka on Feb. 25-26 for another three-game set against Bethel University. Those six games will lead up to the team's Spring Break trip to Auburndale, Fla., where it's scheduled to play seven games from Mar. 5-13. The team then begins its A-R-C title defense on Mar. 24 at the University of Dubuque. After opening league play with eight straight games on the road, the Beavers play their home opener on Apr. 4 with a doubleheader against Central College. The team will wrap up the regular season by playing 10 of its final 11 games on its home turf.

Listen to comments from players as well as Coach Eddie in the preview video included above.