GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Davenport University used a four-run fifth inning to break open a tie game en route to a 7-4 victory over top-seeded and No. 2 ranked Bellevue University in the NAIA Baseball Opening Round Tournament on Wednesday afternoon.
With the loss Bellevue falls to 48-10 on the year and will play an elimination game tomorrow at noon local time (11 a.m. CT) against the winner of this evening's York-Clarke game. Davenport improves to 43-15 and advances to the Opening Round Tournament's championship round.
After managing just one run – in the game's final inning – yesterday, Bellevue wasted no time getting on the board today. Trevor Jones led off the game with a base hit, advanced to second on a sac bunt by Ross Feeley, and scored on Joe Moran's opposite field double to stake the Bruins to an early 1-0 lead.
Davenport responded with a run in the second inning. Brandon Larkin-Guilfoyle reached via walk and advanced to third on a failed pickoff which resulted in a two-base error. Brandon Cable then grounded a ball to short to chase home Larkin-Guilfoyle.
That's where the score remained until the decisive fifth inning. With runners at first and second and one out ninth-place hitter Jeremy Vasquez smashed a triple into the gap in left-center to chase home two runs and give Davenport their first lead of the game. Vasquez came on to score on a ground ball by Connor Seymour. Seymour eventually came around to score on a sac fly to stretch the Panther lead to 5-1 through five innings of play.
A Brian Sobieski single in the sixth with runners on the corners extended Davenport's lead to 6-1 and chased starter Ben McKendall from the game.
BU showed signs of life in the seventh inning when they put three runs up on the board. Jake Browne singled through the left side to plate Derik Bontempo who had singled himself to lead off the inning. Two batters later pinch-hitter Gabriel De La Rosa went the other way with a two-run scoring single to pull the Bruins within two runs at 6-4.
Davenport added an insurance run in the eighth on another RBI-single from Sobieski to put the final tally at 7-4.
Panther starter Brandon White picked up the win in 6.1 innings on the bump. He allowed four earned runs on eight hits and struck out four. Corey Sessions threw 2.2 innings of scoreless relief to record the save.
Trevor Jones (2-4) and Joe Mancuso (2-3) each had two-hit games for the Bruins who were out-hit 10-9.
The right-handed McKendall suffered the loss after allowing six runs (four earned) on eight hits over five innings of work. It was the shortest outing of the season for McKendall, the NSAA's Pitcher of the Year, who falls to 11-2 on the season.
