BLUFFTON — Silence gripped the campus of Bluffton University on Friday as the school's faculty, staff and students coped with the news that a bus carrying the men's baseball team had fallen that morning from an overpass along I-75 in Atlanta. Six people — four students, the driver and his wife — died in the crash.

J.D. POOLEY/AP (ENLARGE)

Bluffton University students Jean Boen (from left) Megan Barker, and Kari Day listen during a news conference in Bluffton, Ohio, on Friday.

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University officials canceled classes Friday as news of the accident spread.

Students gathered Friday morning in Founders Hall, where the school's basketball team plays, to pray and have a moment of silence to reflect on what happened.

"We sang 'Amazing Grace' and said a couple of Bible verses," said Christine McCafferty, a senior from Bluffton, which is located between Lima and Findlay in northwest Ohio. "There was a lot of crying."

Athletics are important at the university, said Robin Bowlus, the school's public relations director. The university's 1,150 students, mostly from surrounding counties, all live on campus and many are enrolled in health, physical education and recreation — the third most popular major

field of study offered by the school.

David Patch of Minster is a basketball player at the school, and he said he knows most of the young men on the baseball team.

"I was just on that same bus Friday," Patch said. "It's hard for me to say what I feel. It could have easily been me as it was the baseball team."

Since all students live on campus, everyone knows each other, Patch said.

Knots of students gathered Friday in the campus cafeteria to watch TV news reports of the accident before heading off for spring break.

Last week, the baseball team met with a group of visiting elementary school students, McCafferty said, and the youngsters looked up to the baseball team.

"They were real mentors to the kids," McCafferty said.

The women's softball team was scheduled to travel by bus to a tournament in Florida on Friday, but the trip was canceled, said Jenna Mayer, a freshman from Lima.

"The softball team all got together and watched the news," Mayer said. "It was weird because (one player interviewed on TV) looked so horrible. It wasn't until then that it really felt real," she said.

James Cummings is a reporter for The Dayton Daily News. He can be reached at jcummings@DaytonDailyNews.com.