HILLSBORO, Kan. -- Braulio Torres-Perez logged six innings of five-hit ball and Ross Feeley notched a 3-for-4 effort at the plate to record his third-straight multi-hit game as the 12th-ranked Bellevue University baseball team defeated #4 Tabor College by a final score of 3-2 on Saturday afternoon in game one of a non-conference double-header.
In a 2-2 game in the seventh Elijah Dickerson used his speed to induce a wild throw that allowed Matt Evans to come around from second base with the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run.
Trevor Jones (2-for-2) recorded a pair of hits for the Bruins in the win while Jake Browne (1-for-3) and Evans (1-for-2) accounted for Bellevue's other hits.
Torres-Perez (1-0, 3.75) picked up the win for the Bruins after recording three strikeouts and allowing just two runs on five hits. Leland Tilley (1-0, 0.00) picked up his first save of the season with a pair of strikeouts in a scoreless seventh.
Gregory Turner took the loss for Tabor despite 6.1 strong innings in which he yielded just one earned run (3 in total) on seven hits while striking out seven. Five Blue Jays recorded hits in the ballgame.
With the win BU improves to 3-1 while the loss – Tabor's first – drops the Blue Jays to 7-1 on the young season.
The two sides exchanged zeroes for four innings before Bellevue opened the scoring in the top of the fifth.
Browne singled up the middle with one out before being lifted for pinch-runner Connor Garrison who advanced to second and third, respectively, after both Evans and Jones were hit by pitches. Tabor looked primed to escape the inning after Dickerson struck out but with the bases loaded Feeley reached on an infield single which plated Garrison from third base. Evans came in to score on a 2-2 passed ball with Joe Mancuso batting to double the Bruin advantage.
Michael Baca reached on a single, took second on a passed ball, and advanced to third on a groundout by AJ Shaw. Alex Couch singled to score Baca and came in to score himself one batter later when Kaden Cline doubled to deep right-center field. Torres-Perez escaped further damage by striking out Manny DeLeon to end the inning.
Bellevue scored a run in the top of the seventh which prompted a call to the bullpen to open the bottom half of the inning. After hitting the first batter he faced Tilley got the next three batters in order to end the game.
