WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The third-ranked Bellevue University baseball team used a four-run ninth inning to pull away for a 6-1 victory at 15th-ranked Keiser University Monday afternoon at Silvester Field.
Bellevue improved to 8-6 on the season with the win. Keiser dropped to 16-6 overall.
Neither team scored until Matt Evans reached home on a wild pitch to give BU a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. The Bruins extended the lead to 2-0 on a ground-out RBI by Brandon Salmon, scoring Joe Moran from third, in the top of the fifth frame.
The Seahawks sliced the lead in half in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single down the right-field line by Tivon Faneyte.
KU threatened to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh after Tom Prospero doubled down the left field line, but was later thrown out at the plate by Derik Bontempo following a single to shallow left field by Gabby Mundro.
With runners at second and third and two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Salmon's diving catch in center field saved two runs to keep the score at 2-1.
A two-run homer to left field by Bontempo, and a pair of RBI singles by Diego Iribarren and Hunter Kelly extended the BU lead to 6-1 in the top of the ninth.
Todd Nicks (2-2) earned the win, scattering six hits with nine strikeouts and one walk in 7.1 innings on the mound.
The Bruins will travel to Lake Wales, Fla. on Tuesday, Mar. 7 for a 3 p.m. 9-inning contest at Warner University.
