Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
VALLEY CITY, N.D. -- After cruising to a 13-0 win in the series-opener, the Bellevue University baseball team was limited to just two hits in a 2-1 loss to Valley City State University in the nightcap on Saturday afternoon at Charlie Brown Memorial Baseball Field.
Records:
(RV) Bellevue: 20-14 (9-1 NSAA)
Valley City State: 9-12 (2-4 NSAA)
Game One: BU 13, VCSU 0
Stephen Knapp (6-2) tossed a gem, logging a complete game, four-hit shutout as he struck out a career-best 10 VCSU batters and the BU offense piled up 13 runs on 14 hits. It was the fourth-straight complete game for Knapp and the third shutout during that span.
Bellevue jumped on the board in the first when Kory Longaker came in to score on JT Patterson's ground ball, the first of five RBI for Patterson in the game.
The Bruins waited until the fifth to add to their lead when they pushed across four more runs. Stuart Eurich brought in a run on a ground out, Longaker singled home another, and Patterson brought in a pair with a double to right center.
Tommy Hansen drove home a run in the seventh with an RBI-single to push the BU lead to 6-0.
Three more runs in the eighth via a Travis Tanaka RBI-single and another two-run double from Patterson made it 9-0 in favor of the Bruins.
Bellevue tacked on four more insurance runs in the ninth to account for the final margin.
Tanaka, Longaker, Patterson, Hansen, Wataru Kazama, and Austin Alexander all recorded multi-hit games for Bellevue with Hansen pacing the group with three base knocks.
Phillip Almanza (2-4) took the loss for the Vikings, as he surrendered five runs – one earned – on five hits in five innings of work.
Game Two: VCSU 2, BU 1
VCSU's Jacob Rosales (3-1) fired a two-hitter to pitch the Vikings to a split of the Bruins with a 2-1 win in Saturday's second game. The senior right-hander struck out eight and issued just two walks in the complete game effort.
Anthony Alvarado (2-2) was up to the task for the Bruins as he matched Rosales nearly pitch-for-pitch. In a complete game effort, Alvarado limited the Vikings to six hits and struck out four.
The teams traded zeroes on the scoreboard until the bottom of the fifth inning when Valley City got on the board with a pair of runs. Pinch-hitter Nate Soulis doubled in Nathan Demarais before he came around to score on a Sal Avila RBI-single for a 2-0 lead.
Cody Banks led off the top of the seventh with a home run to halve the VCSU lead. After Tommy Hansen was hit by a pitch and sacrificed to second with just one out, BU was afforded two chances to get him in but back-to-back strikeouts saw Bellevue strand the tying run on second.
Kory Longaker singled in the first to account for the only other Bruin hit in the game.
Up Next:
The Bruins and Vikings meet again tomorrow to wrap up their four-game set. First pitched is scheduled for noon from Charlie Brown Memorial Baseball Field.
