Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
CONWAY, Ark. -- The 17th-ranked Bellevue University baseball team opened league play on Friday with a convincing doubleheader sweep at Central Baptist College, winning by scores of 11-3 and 11-1.
The Bruins blasted 32 hits in the sweep, improving to 14-4-1 on the season and 2-0 in the MCAC. BU has now won eight-straight games. Central Baptist fell to 9-7 overall and 0-2 in league play.
The two teams will conclude the four-game series with a noon doubleheader on Saturday (March 16).
Game 1: Bellevue 11, Central Baptist 3
The Bruins broke open a tight contest, scoring seven runs in the final two innings to post an 11-3 victory in the opener. Bellevue collected a season-high 19 hits in the victory, led by Zack Clark, Kyle Kinman, Tanner Moore, and Nate Mullins, who produced three hits apiece.
Kinman finished 3-for-6 with a triple, a home run and four RBIs. Moore was 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles, an RBI, and two runs scored. Mullins hit his first home run of the season, while going 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
All nine hitters in the starting lineup registered at least one hit, with six players belting multiple hits.
Robert Greco improved to 4-1 on the season, allowing six hits with one walk, while striking out eight batters in eight inning of work.
After the Mustangs climbed to within one run at 4-3 by scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh, the Bruins used RBI doubles by Clark and Moore, an RBI triple by Kinman as well as an RBI single by Brian Embery to pull away to an 8-3 advantage in the top of the eighth inning.
Bellevue added three more runs in the ninth on an RBI single by Andy Smolinski and a two-run single by Kinman to put the Bruins up 11-3.
Game 2: Bellevue 11, Central Baptist 1
The Bruins pounded out 13 hits to back the six-hit pitching effort from Michael Calderon, as Bellevue cruised to the 11-1 victory in the nightcap.
Kinman went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run, while Moore and Beau Dahmen collected three hits apiece. Embery and Mullins each drove in two runs as well.
After a scoreless first two innings, the Bruins plated three runs in the third fame, highlighted by a two-run single by Embery. Bellevue scored four runs in the fourth inning on a pair of two-run singles by Kinman and Mullins to extend the margin to 7-0.
The Bruins added four more runs in the sixth inning, scoring on an RBI double by Frank Haskett, an RBI single by Elijah Dickerson, and from a pair of wild pitches, giving BU an 11-0 advantage.
The Mustangs avoided the shutout with Myles Hiebert's RBI single in the bottom of the sixth.
Calderon earned the complete-game win, imroving to 3-0 on the season, scattering six hits with seven strikeouts and four walks in seven innings.
