CRETE, Neb. -- The Bellevue University baseball team used a three-run sixth inning to break open a tie game en route to an 8-2 non-conference win over Doane on Wednesday at the Doane Baseball Field.
Bellevue improves to 11-13 with the victory while Doane dropped to 10-12 and saw their three-game win streak come to a half.
Bellevue 8, Doane 2
Doane took an early lead when Talon Little tripled in Evan Germansky in the bottom of the second inning.
In the top of the fourth, Diego Iribarren scored on a wild pitch to tie the game.
Through five innings Bellevue stranded nine runners on base, including five in scoring position before they broke through.
Travis Tanaka gave the Bruins the lead in the sixth when his two-out single scored Matt Evans. JT Patterson followed up with a two-run double to right to bring home Brandon Salmon and courtesy runner Lumus Russell making it 4-1 in favor of the visitors.
The Bruins added another three-spot in the eighth inning highlighted by a two-run single from Tanaka and an RBI-double to deep center off the bat of Riley Baasch.
BU tacked on an insurance run in the ninth when Salmon drew a bases-loaded walk.
Bruin starter Jarrod Molnaa provided four solid innings in which he held Doane to just one run on three hits while striking out four against a pair of walks.
Bellevue overcame stranding 13 runners on base, including six in scoring position.
Zach Wilson (1-1) picked up his first win of the season for BU with four effective innings of relief, including striking out the last two batters of the eighth with runners on base. In total, he fired four scoreless innings and limited the Tigers to just three hits while striking out three and issuing one free pass.
Max Dwyer allowed a run in an adventurous ninth to preserve the victory.
Doane's Jacob Trujillo (1-2) was tagged with the loss after allowing Bellevue to score three unearned runs in the sixth.
Up Next:
Bellevue opens NSAA play this weekend when they host #12 University of Jamestown (23-1) Saturday-Sunday, Mar. 24-25 at Brown Park in Omaha, Neb. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. both days.
