LEWISTON, Idaho -- The No. 2 Bellevue University baseball team dropped a 9-3 decision to No. 5 Tennessee Wesleyan on Monday evening in the second game for both clubs at the 2016 Avista-NAIA World Series.
Colton Nash picked up a trio of hits, including a double, for the Bruins who struggled to get anything going early. Bellevue tallied just three hits prior to the eighth inning.
The Bulldogs grabbed a lead they'd never relinquish with a three-run second inning, highlighted by a Sully Rios Reyes two-run home run. He turned around a 1-2 pitch and sent it into the left field bleachers for his sixth home run of the season.
Tennessee Wesleyan ran their lead to 5-0 in the fourth on Pedro Barrios' two-run double. The Bulldogs tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the seventh.
Bellevue avoided being shutout in a nine inning game for the first time since May 14, 2014 (126 games) when they scored a pair of runs in the top of the eighth on Trevor Jones' opposite field double.
Tennessee Wesleyan reclaimed their seven-run lead with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Nash singled home Joe Moran in the ninth to pull BU to within 9-3 with the bases loaded but a ground ball double play ended the game.
Starter Todd Nicks (11-2) suffered just his second loss of the season. The junior right-hander went five innings and was charged with allowing five earned runs on seven hits. He struck out seven batters on the game against three walks.
Bulldog starter Tyler Thornton (7-2) threw seven innings of three-hit ball without allowing a run. He struck out seven and didn't issue a walk.
Bellevue (52-11) plays Lindsey Wilson tomorrow at noon local time (2 p.m. CT) in an elimination game.
