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BELLEVUE, Neb. -- The Bellevue University baseball team advanced to the championship game of the NAIA National Championship Opening Round (Bellevue Bracket) with a 7-3 victory over Concordia (Neb.) University in a winner's bracket contest Tuesday afternoon at Don Roddy Field.
The championship game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday with a yet-to-be-determined opponent. Concordia will face the winner of the Science & Arts (Okla.) vs. MidAmerica Nazarene contest at 11 a.m. Wednesday morning. Bellevue will play the winner of that contest in the championship game.
Bellevue is 3-0 in the Opening Round, improving to 41-16 on the season. Concordia, who won both the GPAC regular-season and tournament titles, dropped to 39-10 overall.
BU scored two runs in each of the first three innings and rode the solid pitching efforts of Graham Cahill and Alexandro Celiceo en route to the 7-3 victory.
The Bruins got out of the gates quickly, scoring two runs in the top of the first on Josh Vaughan's two-out two-run homer over the left-field fence.
A two-run homer to right-center field by Rigo Duarte increased the BU lead to 4-0 in the top of the second frame.
BU made it 6-0 in the top of the third on a two-run single to right field by Riley Baasch.
The Bulldogs responded in the bottom of the third with a two-run double to deep left-center field by Beau Dorman and a run-scoring single to left field by Joey Grabanski, slicing the BU advantage in half to 6-3.
An RBI double to center field by Cody Banks pushed the BU margin to 7-3 in the top of the seventh stanza.
Celiceo replaced starter Cahill in the bottom of the seventh inning and did not allow a hit while striking out two Bulldogs to earn his fourth save of the season. Celiceo retired the final seven Bulldog batters.
Cahill (6-2) earned the victory, scattering nine hits while giving up three runs with one walk and eight strikeouts in 6.2 innings on the mound.
Trenton Wood (6-2) suffered the loss, allowing five hits and six runs with no walks and five strikeouts in 2.0 innings of work.
