Beavers finally back at the top

CEDAR RAPIDS - They're known for their basketball programs, both men's and women's. They've had some really strong wrestling teams over the years.

But the Buena Vista Beavers haven't been about baseball for a long, long time.

Maybe that's why the dog pile near the pitcher's mound Sunday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Stadium was so large and gleeful. It was celebration city for the Northwest Iowa school after winning its first Iowa Conference tournament.

“Something special,” senior second baseman Michael Stephenson said after BV knocked off perennial power Wartburg, 9-4. “We struggled my freshman year. Just watching the team evolve in the last four years has been something great. Being able to be a three-year captain with this group has been an honor, and I'm glad I got the opportunity. This is huge for Buena Vista. It's been 30-some years since we've had a championship like this, and I think it brings something great to our school.”

Buena Vista (29-11) won all three of its games at the double-elimation tournament, beating Wartburg (25-19) twice. The Beavers won the IIAC's regular-season title, leading the league in hitting, pitching and fielding.

BV clutched up Sunday, rallying from a 1-0 hole with a five-run seventh inning and four-run eighth. There's no question this is the Iowa Conference's best baseball team, and it should have the opportunity to do well at whatever NCAA Division III regional tournament it is sent to.

The Beavers will find that out today.

“They've really turned the tide at BV right now,” said 10th-year head coach Steve Eddie, who reached Triple-A in a seven-year minor league infield career after starring at Iowa. “I'm very happy for these guys and really happy for our alumni, who kind of wondered, I think, if we'd ever get it going again.”

Buena Vista's last regular-season championship came in 1981. The Iowa Conference began tournament play in 1994, with BV never finishing in the top three - until now.

“This is the third year straight that we've had pretty much the exact same starters,” said outfielder

Brandon Pietrzyk, who came all the way from

Portland, Ore., to lead the IIAC in RBIs and stolen bases. “I think it's experience. Last year, we got off to a really good start and it felt like we almost surprised ourselves and we kind of fell off at the end. But this year, we came in knowing exactly what to expect. We knew what it was going to take to win this conference.”