JOPLIN, Mo. -- The 12th-ranked Bellevue University baseball team rolled to a 9-0 victory of University of Saint Mary (Kan.) on Saturday afternoon to wrap up a third-straight winning weekend. The Bruins won three out of four on the weekend to improve to 8-2 on the season while the loss drops USM to 3-13.
Ross Feeley notched his second 3-hit game in the win while Matt Evans recorded his first such game.
The first four Bruins to come to the plate all reached base to start the game before Evans opened the scoring with an RBI-single in the first ahead of Colton Nash. Nash (1-for-4) then sent a line drive home run over the left field fence to score three runs and put BU up 4-0 in the opening frame.
Bellevue added two more runs in the second inning on a two-run double by Evans that scored Trevor Jones (1-for-3) and Feeley.
The Bruins struck for two more runs in the fourth. Evans recorded another RBI-single, bringing his RBI total to four on the afternoon, and Nash came in to play on a base hit by Derik Bontempo (1-for-4) that was bobbled by the center fielder.
BU tacked on an insurance run in the sixth. Connor Garrison reached on a fielder's choice, advanced to both second and third on wild pitches and came in to score when Nash's hot shot to third wasn't handled cleanly.
Christian Fillingame (1-for-3) had Bellevue's other hit on the afternoon.
Right-hander Todd Nicks (1-1) notched his first collegiate win on the hill. He scattered three singles over six shutout innings and struck out six against just one walk.
John Timmins worked a scoreless seventh to preserve the shutout. It was the Bruins' second shutout of the weekend after they blanked York, 8-0, in game one of yesterday's double-header.
Riley Veith took the loss for the Spires, falling to 0-1 on the season. He logged six innings, surrendering nine runs (six earned) on 10 hits while striking out a pair.
In scoring nine runs, Bellevue has now scored 38 over their last five ballgames and they are averaging an impressive 6.9 runs per game on the season.
The Bruins return to the diamond on Saturday, Mar. 5 with a twin-bill at Webber International University to kick off their Florida Trip. First pitch is slated for noon.
