SIOUX CITY, Iowa - The bats were quiet as the Bellevue University baseball team split at Briar Cliff University in Tuesday afternoon double-header action in Sioux City, Iowa. The Bruins fell in the opener by a count of 5-1 before rallying for a 5-4, 9-inning victory in the nightcap.
The Bruins, ranked 12th nationally in the latest NAIA Coaches' Poll, are now 19-5 with the split while Briar Cliff is now 8-8-1 on the season.
Bellevue is now 14-5 away from home on the year and 6-5 in true road games.
Game One: Briar Cliff 5, Bellevue 1 (7 innings)
Four Briar Cliff pitchers combined to limit Bellevue to just five hits on the afternoon while stranding seven base runners as the Chargers snapped BU's season-long six-game win in the opener on Tuesday afternoon.
Bellevue claimed an early 1-0 lead when junior Gabriel De La Rosa (Miami, Fla.) reached on an error that allowed junior Elijah Dickerson (Vancouver, Wash.) to score in the top of the second for a 1-0 BU lead.
Briar Cliff quickly erased that deficit as Alex Colegrove clubbed a bases-clearing triple to score Jeraldo Montejano, Chase Hernandez, and Darrell Wilson to put the Chargers up 3-1. Colegrove later came in to score on a balk to make it 4-1.
An inning later Wilson delivered an RBI-single to plate Scott Morton to give Briar Cliff a little extra breathing room.
Senior Sean McManus (Palm Coast, Fla.) took the loss on the hill for the Bruins, surrendering five runs on six hits and a walk while striking out two. McManus saw his run of 17.1 innings without surrendering a run come to an end with one out in the bottom of the second and falls to 3-1 on the season.
Junior Tony Monroy (Los Angeles, Calif.) threw three quality innings in relief of McManus, allowing just one hit and striking out four of the 10 batters he faced on the afternoon.
Adam Alexander claimed the victory for the Chargers with four innings of four-hit ball that saw him yield just one unearned run and strike out three.
Game Two: Bellevue 5, Briar Cliff 4 (9 innings)
Bellevue rallied twice in the late innings to earn a 5-4, 9-inning victory over Briar Cliff in the nightcap of Tuesday's double-header.
Junior Edwin Rodriguez (Ponce, P.R.) reached on an error and stole second to get himself into scoring position for junior Ross Feeley (Tehachapi, Calif.) who delivered an RBI-single to plate the Bruins' game-winning run in the top of the ninth.
Charger starter Dylan Romo carried a no-hit bid into the fifth before encountering some trouble. Romo hit senior Aaron Brasher (Vallejo, Calif.) to lead off the inning before Gabriel De La Rosa singled to break up the no-no. Elijah Dickerson laid down a sac bunt to put runners on second and third with just one out before freshman Dan Greco (Papillion, Neb.) came up with a two-run single to put BU up 2-0.
Briar Cliff wasted no time getting back in the game. The first two batters in the bottom of the fifth reached base before Brody Pitkin reached on an error while allowing Jeraldo Montejano to score on the play cutting the deficit in half. The next batter up, Brazis Horak, laid down a sack bunt to move runners to second and third with just one out. A sacrifice fly by Joshua Penrod and an RBI-single by Scott Morton each plated runs to put Briar Cliff in front 3-2.
Bellevue threatened a half-inning later by putting runners on the corners with two outs but was unable to plate the game-tying run. The Bruins did come through, however, in the top of the seventh by scoring a pair of runs. Senior Tyler Blood (Salt Lake City, Utah) singled to center to plate junior pinch-runner Connor Garrison (Sedro-Woolley) and senior Osvaldo Gonzalez (Miami, Fla.) reached on a fielder's choice to score junior pinch-runner Kevin Rodriguez (Pico Rivera, Calif.).
Briar Cliff's Joshua Penrod came up with a two-out game-tying double in the bottom of the seventh to force extras on the afternoon.
Junior Leland Tilley (Exeter, Calif.) picked up the win in relief for the Bruins. Tilley threw 2.2 innings, allowing just one hit and striking out four to improve to 2-0 on the year.
Bellevue returns to the diamond this weekend for their conference-opener at Central Baptist College in Conway, Ark. The Bruins (19-5) and Mustangs (14-6) will play double-headers on both Friday and Saturday, beginning at 3:00 p.m. and 12:00 p.m., respectively.
