Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
VALLEY CITY, N.D. -- Behind 33 runs of offense the (RV) Bellevue University baseball team picked up a pair of victories over Valley City State University on Sunday afternoon in a North Star Athletic Association double-header at Charlie Brown Memorial Baseball Field.
The Bruins downed the Vikings 22-3 in a rule-rule shortened opener before going on to an 11-8 triumph in game two to secure the 3-1 series victory.
Records:
(RV) Bellevue: 22-14 (11-1 NSAA)
Valley City State: 9-14 (4-4 NSAA)
Game One: BU 22, VCSU 3 (7-Innings)
Five different Bruins went deep as Bellevue raced out to a 16-0 lead by the end of the second inning.
The Bruins scored four runs in the top of the first in their quick start.
The second inning saw Kory Longaker, Wataru Kazama, and Cody Banks all go deep as the Bruins erupted for 12 runs in the frame.
Riley Baasch and Travis Tanaka added seventh inning long balls as BU led by as much as 22-1 following the shot from Tanaka.
Longaker finished with a four-hit, five-RBI game to lead the Bruins in both categories. Baasch and Kazama each drove in four runs while Baasch, Tanaka, and Banks each had three-hit efforts in the victory.
Mitch Savine (3-3) earned the win with 5.0 innings of solid relief work. He limited VCSU to three runs – two earned – on five hits and struck out three.
Shaun Kourajian (1-3) was hit with the loss after being tagged for 13 runs in just 1.1 innings of work.
Game Two: BU 11, VCSU 8
JT Patterson drove in eight runs with the Bruins' first three-home run game since Stuart Eurich accomplished the feat last year in a 29-2 win over Waldorf (Apr. 29). The eight RBI recorded by Patterson are the most since former Bruin Jake Browne drove in 10 in a 23-0 win over St. Ambrose on Mar. 11, 2016.
In addition to Patterson's performance, Kory Longaker had another terrific going 5-for-5 with a pair of doubles, an RBI and three runs scored.
The teams traded three-run first innings as the offenses dominated in the early going. BU got theirs on a three-run homer off the bat of Patterson and Valley City answered with doubles from Sal Avila and Aiden Brook.
Bellevue went ahead with a pair of runs in the second courtesy of RBI-singles from Travis Tanaka and Longaker.
Brady Smith singled in a run for VCSU in the third to cut the Bruin lead to 5-4.
Patterson's second long ball of the game, another three-run shot, put Bellevue up 8-4 in the fourth but the Vikings scored twice in the home half.
After Hunter Jury made it 9-6 with an RBI-single in the fifth, Patterson capped his three-jack game with a two-run bomb in the sixth for an 11-6 Bruin advantage and Bellevue held on from there to secure the win.
Derek Browne (5-1) came on in relief to fire four effective innings and earn the win.
Marcus Niemann (0-1) allowed five runs in three innings as he took the loss for the Vikings.
Up Next:
Bellevue hosts Dakota State on Tuesday, Apr. 9 for a pair of NSAA games. Game times and a venue are still to be determined.
