Box Score
NSAA Tournament Central
VALLEY CITY, N.D. -- The No. 21-ranked Bellevue University baseball team fell behind by a run on three difference occasions but found answers every time as the top-seeded Bruins picked up a 5-3 victory over sixth-seeded Viterbo University. The game was the first of the 2019 North Star Athletic Association Tournament on Friday afternoon at Charlie Brown Memorial Baseball Field on the campus of Valley City State University.
Records:
#21 Bellevue: 40-14
Viterbo: 11-30
Recap: (1) Bellevue 5, (6) Viterbo 3
Viterbo struck first with a run in the opening frame on a Jake Kleszczynski single that plated Nolan Glunz.
Bellevue wasted no time responding in the home half as Cody Banks singled in courtesy runner Brandon Sparks.
Run-scoring singles off the bats of Viterbo's Evan Wenberg and BU's Travis Tanaka in the third and fourth innings, respectively, saw the game tied at 2-2 entering the fifth.
The V-Hawks took their third lead of the game in the fifth as a pair of Bruin fielding errors allowed an unearned run to come across.
Bellevue scored twice in the bottom of the fifth. After a pair of quick outs Riley Baasch and Austin Alexander recorded back-to-back doubles to tie the game at 3-3. Stuart Eurich followed Alexander's double with an opposite field single to give the Bruins their first lead of the ball game.
Baasch gave the Bruins an insurance run in the seventh with his single to short that scored Banks.
Jarrett Poh (8-0) did not always have his best stuff in the game but still turned in a quality start. Poh limited the V-Hawks to three runs (two earned) on six hits over seven innings of work. He struck out eight against three walks before yielding the rubber to the Bruin bullpen.
Brandon Desjardins (2) picked up the save with a pair of hitless innings in relief. He struck out the side around a two-out walk in the eight and retired the side in order in the ninth to preserve the win.
V-Hawk ace Samuel Torsey (1-7) threw well enough to keep Viterbo in the game. Viterbo trailed by just one when he exited the game. Over 6.1 innings he allowed five runs on eight hits and struck out six.
Tanaka, Baasch, and Alexander all recorded two-hit games for Bellevue and Kleszczynski notched a two-hit effort for the V-Hawks.
Up Next:
Bellevue plays tomorrow at 2 p.m. and will face the loser of 3-seed Valley City State and 4-seed Presentation. The game will be an elimination game for the Bruins' opponent.
Viterbo meets the loser of 2-seed Waldorf and 5-seed Mayville State in an elimination game tomorrow at 11 a.m.
