St. Francis Box Score | Warner Box Score | Warner Tournament Website
LAKE WALES, Fla. -- The Bellevue University baseball team finished with a win and a tie after the second day of competition in the Warner Tournament Friday afternoon at Royals Field.
Bellevue (8-5-2) posted a 5-2 win over the University of the St. Francis (Ill.) before finishing the day with 9-9 tie, in nine innings, with Warner University. This marks the second tie against the Royals in four days.
The Bruins, ranked No. 14 in the NAIA, will continue tournament action tomorrow (March 8) with an 11:30 a.m. CST contest against Siena Heights University (5-4) at Avon Park High School.
Bellevue 5, St. Francis (Ill.) 2
The Bruins outhit St. Francis, 9-1, and used a four-run third inning to defeat the Fighting Saints, 5-2.
Aaron Brasher and Bryce Kelly both went 2-for-3 and Nate Mullins tallied two RBIs to lead the Bruin offense.
Brennan Henry held USF without a hit in 4.2 innings of work as he improved to 2-0. Steve Sarcone came out of the Bruin bullpen to earn his second save of the season. Henry and Sarcone each struck out two batters.
The first four Bruin batters reached base and Levi Cartas, Kyle Kinman and Mullins each registered RBIs as BU scored four runs on four hits off USF starting pitcher Adam Panayotovich in the third inning.
The Fighting Saints cut the Bruins' lead in half following a bases-loaded walk and a passed ball to pull within two, 4-2, in the top of the fifth inning.
BU scored the final run of the game in the sixth on Tyler Blood's RBI single that scored pinch runner Zack Clark.
Panayotovich (1-1) took the loss for the Fighting Saints. He gave up all five runs with eight strikeouts in six innings of work.
With the loss, USF dropped to 7-11 overall.
Bellevue 9, Warner 9 (9 innings)
Warner scored eight runs on eight hits to erase an eight-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh. The two extra innings would remain scoreless and darkness forced the game to end in a tie, 9-9.
This marks the second time this week Bellevue and Warner have finished in a tie. On March 4, the two teams played to a 5-5 tie, also in nine innings.
Colby Fitzgerald went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs and Cribbs added two hits and three RBIs. Six different Bruins tallied multi-hit games as BU finished with 14 hits.
Starting pitcher Ricky Holm struck out 11 batters in six complete innings in the no-decision. This is the third time this season Holm, a senior from Marysville, Wash., has totaled 11 strikeouts in a game. He currently leads the pitching staff with 40 strikeouts.
The Bruins led the game off with back-to-back singles by Clark and Kinman who eventually came around to score after RBIs by Galli Cribbs and Mullins to take an early 2-0 lead.
BU added to its lead in the top of the fourth inning with a two-out two-run double by Cribbs.
Kelly hit an RBI single to left field to extend the Bruins' advantage to 5-0 in the fifth frame. Fitzgerald, who led the inning off with a single, scored on the play.
The first five Bruins reached base in the sixth inning, and Mark Medalia and Fitzgerald both recorded two-run RBI hits to give BU a nine-run lead.
The Royals scored its first run of the game in bottom half of the sixth on Anthony Dovale's single before exploding for eight runs in the seventh to force extra innings.
The Bruins outhit the Royals by two, 14-12, and both teams finished with two errors.
