BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Derek Browne fired four scoreless innings of relief and Riley Baasch drove in three runs to lead the Bellevue University baseball team to a 5-4 victory over Morningside College on Tuesday evening in non-conference action at Don Roddy Field on the campus of Bellevue East High School.
Records:
Bellevue: 19-13
Morningside: 16-10
Recap: Bellevue 5, Morningside 4
Mitch Savine struck out the first two Morningside hitters of the game and looked to have three-hole hitter Sam Huska punched out but the Mustang DH took a 2-2 pitch inside before lining a double to left. Nic Metcalf followed with a run-scoring hit to center for an early 1-0 lead.
Cody Banks tied the game with an RBI-single in the bottom of the first before Riley Baasch came through with a two-out, two-run single through the hole on the left side.
Morningside tied the game up with runs in each the second and third innings before Bellevue responded.
In the bottom half of the third Baasch came up with an RBI-double to plate Banks that hugged the third base line and later came around to score when Wataru Kazama reached on an error.
Metcalf drove in another run with a double to center that scored Huska in the top of the fifth but that was the end of the scoring.
With Bellevue ahead 5-4 after five innings, Derek Browne (4-1) held the fort for the Bruins with four shutout innings of relief to earn the win as the Bruins recorded their 12th-straight victory. He struck out six batters to offset four walks.
Morningside out-hit Bellevue 10-6 on the night but stranded 12 runners on base, including wasting a second and third opportunity with no outs in the sixth and leaving the bases loaded in the eight inning.
Mustang reliever Spencer Wyant struck out seven BU batters in five hitless innings of relief to keep Morningside in contention.
Thomas Johnson (0-1) suffered the loss for Morningside after being tagged for five runs – three earned – in 3.0 innings of work.
Up Next:
Bellevue meets Valley City State University for a four-game NSAA set this weekend. Series details are still being ironed out by both coaching staffs, based on field conditions on the VCSU campus, with a decision expected to be reached by Thursday.
