OMAHA, Neb. -- The 24th-ranked Bellevue University baseball team opened a three-game non-conference series with Briar Cliff University on Saturday with a decisive 9-2 victory at John Stella Field in Brown Park.
The Bruins improved to 6-3 on the season with the win. BCU fell to 1-3 overall.
Bellevue outhit the Chargers, 11-5, and rode the solid pitching efforts of Elijah Johnson and Cade Sakamoto en route to the seven-run victory.
The Bruins raced out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, scoring on a fielder's choice RBI by Alex Stufft and on a Charger fielding error by shortstop Trevor Adler, that allowed two runs to score.
Mathieu Sirois and Drew Staley drove in runs to increase the margin to 5-0 in the bottom of the third frame.
A fielder's choice RBI by Sirois made it 6-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The Chargers didn't pick up a hit until the top of the sixth inning when Matthew Hmielewsk produced an infield single.
CJ Townsend scored on Conner Barnett's RBI single to right field to expand the margin to 7-0 in the bottom of the sixth stanza.
Staley's two-run home run over the left-field fence increased the advantage to 9-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Chargers scored their first runs of the game on pinch hitter Connor Lange's two-out two-run homer to left field to slice the lead to 9-2 in the top of the eighth frame.
After relief pitcher Sakamoto allowed a baserunner in the top of the ninth with a hit batsman, the Bruins ended the game by inducing a flyout to center field and a double play, to secure the 9-2 victory.
Johnson (2-1) earned the win, allowing just one hit and one walk with eight strikeouts in seven innings on the mound.
Kyler Steinborn (0-1) suffered the loss, giving up three runs on one hit and two walks with one strikeout in the first inning of play.
The two teams will complete the three-game series with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Sunday (Feb. 27) at Brown Park.
