Bluffton baseball team returns to diamond
Over 1,200 spectators and 100 media outlets are present at season opener.
by Jill A. DulingPrint Article Email to a Friend
Four weeks after a bus accident claimed the lives of five student-athletes, the Bluffton (Ohio) University baseball team continued the healing process by beginning its season at home on March 30 versus conference-foe College of Mount St. Joseph from Cincinnati.
Family, friends and supporters arrived in droves, spreading out blankets and folding chairs. By all accounts it looked like an ordinary game day, with children running around, hotdogs and brats on the grill and people chatting.
Five white banners lining the left-field fence waved in the breeze, reminding all present that from here on out, “ordinary” would always be a relative term.
In front of more than 1,200 spectators and 100 media outlets, the Beavers took the field after a moment of silence and a prayer by Bluffton president James M. Harder. The team sported black jerseys in honor of their teammates.
James Grandey, head coach, unable to physically be in the dugout due to his injuries, sat in the press box, coaching his team from a stone’s throw away.
When junior Tim Kay, Alpharetta, Ga., threw a strike on the first pitch, the crowd leapt to its feet and erupted in cheers, collectively realizing that baseball was back at Bluffton.
Unable to hold onto an early 3-1 lead, Bluffton lost the first game of the three-game weekend series, 10-5. Despite the loss, the day as a whole was nothing short of a win.
“It’s disappointing to lose,” said Ryan Baightel, Wapakoneta, Ohio, after the game. “Any day you want to win, but when a crowd like this comes out, you want to win for them. But I think it’s a win to be back on the field. That’s enough.”
“The best thing that could’ve happened to this program at this time is for us to play today. We’re a Division III school [which doesn’t grant athletic scholarships], and yes, the guys came here for academics, but our 40 guys came here to play baseball, too. It’s about baseball for them. And it’s about healing; they need to get out and do what they love and honor the players we lost,” said Grandey.
On March 31, the Beavers earned their first win of the season versus the Lions of Mount St. Joseph, 7-6. They fell to the Lions 7-6 in the second game of the day.
The Bluffton baseball team was on its way to Sarasota, Fla., on March 2 to play a doubleheader with Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va., when its bus toppled over an overpass onto the highway below.
Four student-athletes, the bus driver and the bus driver’s wife were killed in the accident. A fifth student-athlete died a week later (See “Bluffton University mourns seven deaths,” March 20).
The deceased include Bluffton students Zachary Arend (Oakwood, Ohio); Tyler Williams (Lima, Ohio); David Betts (Bryan, Ohio); Scott Harmon (Lima, Ohio) and Cody Holp (Arcanum, Ohio); the bus driver, Jerome Niemeyer, and his wife, Jean Niemeyer, both of Columbus Grove, Ohio.
Contributions to funds for the players and their families have surpassed $80,000.
Donations are still being accepted for a memorial that will be established at a later date.
For more information about the baseball team, visit www.bluffton.edu.—Jill A. Duling of Bluffton University
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