OMAHA, Neb. - Strong pitching and stronger hitting enabled the Bellevue University baseball team to defeat Morningside College by a score of 9-3 on Tuesday evening at Millard North High School. The game, originally slated for 3:00 p.m. at Westgate Field was moved due to the unplayable nature of the infield.
Bellevue, ranked 14th nationally in the first poll of the season which came out earlier in the day, has now won nine of their last 11 to improve to 13-4 on the year. The Bruins avoided back-to-back losses for the second time this season and improve to 3-1 in games following a loss.
The loss snaps a four-game win streak for Morningside and drops the Mustangs to 11-4 on the season.
The Bruins pounded out 16 hits on the day, their 10th game with at least 10 on the season. Bellevue improves to 10-0 in such games.
Junior southpaw Drew Ferguson (Overland Park, Kan.) worked seven strong innings for the Bruins to improve to 2-0 on the year and lower his ERA to 3.15. He limited Morningside to just two runs (one earned) while scattering five hits and striking out a season-high six batters.
Junior Gabriel De La Rosa (Miami, Fla.) continued his good work at the dish, racking up four more hits in five plate appearances to up his batting average to .443 while driving in three runs.
Morningside struck first with a single run in each of the game's first two innings. In the top of the first Nolan Hoff reached with one out on a two-base error on a fly ball to center field before coming in to score a batter later on Nate Clark's RBI-double to right center.
The Bruins struck back with a pair of runs in the bottom half on RBI singles by both senior Osvaldo Gonzalez (Miami, Fla.) and junior Colton Nash (Bonney Lake, Wash.).
Bellevue broke the tie for good in the bottom of the third inning. De La Rosa led off the inning with a single through the right side and advance to third on a double to left center by Nash. Two batters later Jones lofted a fly ball deep to left to allow De La Rosa to score the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run.
RBI singles from De La Rosa and Nicks plated two more Bruin runs in the bottom of the fifth to give BU a 5-2 lead and some separation. Bellevue put the nail in the coffin, scoring four insurance runs in the bottom half of the seventh for a commanding 9-2 edge.
Junior Aaron Bain (Cambridge, Ont.) worked two innings in relief of Ferguson, allowing an unearned run, to nail down the victory.
Four players had multi-hit games for Bellevue while junior Trevor Jones (West Richland, Wash.) and sophomore Todd Nicks (Bakersfield, Calif.) each tallied two RBI to join De La Rosa with multi-RBI nights.
Bellevue returns to the diamond on Thursday when they host Benedictine College at 3:00 p.m. in their second game of a five-game homestand.
