STORM LAKE, Iowa (May 1, 2022) - The Buena Vista baseball team closed out its 3-game weekend series with the University of Dubuque on Sunday and notched a pair of thrilling victories to complete the series sweep and secure at least a share of the American Rivers Conference regular season title.

The Spartans grabbed an early 2-0 lead off starter Dalton Glenn in game one and continued to lead 3-1 after an RBI single in the fifth.

BVU rallied late by getting two runs in the sixth inning to pull even at 3-3.  Zack Beekmann had an RBI ground out to second before Calvin Harris tied things up with an RBI single into right.  The Beavers kept that momentum going right into the seventh inning with Harris giving the team its first lead at 4-3 with sacrifice fly before Grant Oseka broke things open with a 3-run home run to deep left center field for a 7-3 lead.

Mason Gehling, who came on and pitched the final three innings, struck out five of the nine batters he faced to record the save.  Glenn worked six strong innings, allowing just three runs on seven hits.  He struck out five and walked just one en route to his fifth conference win of the year.

Zach Pleggenkuhle was 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored at the plate for BVU.  Jordan Mathewson turned in two hits, Oseka finished with three RBI and Evan Taylor tallied a double, RBI and one run scored.

BVU came out in game two and built an early 5-1 lead after scoring a run in the first and a pair of runs in both the second and third innings.  Oseka drove in a run in the first with a sac fly and added another in the third on an RBI single.  Harris launched a solo home run to right center in the second to make it 2-0.

Dubuque would slowly chip away at the Beaver lead, pushing across two runs in the fifth to get within 5-3.  BVU did respond in the bottom half by getting one of those back on a Pleggenkuhle single before the Spartans added single runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to make it 6-5.  Michael Demers got the team out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth by getting a popup and a ground out with the bases loaded and just one out.

Calvin Harris came on to pitch the ninth and worked a perfect frame to record his sixth save of the year and the 13th of his career.  He moves within four of James Stone's career record of 17 set from 2099-12.

Harris finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored and was a triple shy of the cycle.  Oseka also added three hits and two RBI with Jordan Mathewson and Evan Taylor chipping in with two each.

Mark Eddie picked up the win on the mound for BVU, allowing four runs and 10 hits over 5.1 innings while striking out four.  Brayden Polzein worked the next two innings before handing things over to Demers with one out in the eighth.

Buena Vista improves to 24-11 overall (16-5 A-R-C) and can secure the outright title with just one win next weekend at Coe College or one loss by Loras over its final four games.  The Duhawks swept past Wartburg on Sunday and the two teams close out the series on Monday.

BVU and Coe begin its 3-game set on Friday, May 6 in Cedar Rapids with a single nine-inning contest starting at 3:00 p.m.