LAKE WALES, Fla. -- The seventh-ranked Bellevue University baseball team snapped a five-game losing streak, opening their annual Florida spring trip with a decisive, 11-2, victory over Mount Vernon Nazarene University Saturday afternoon at Royals Field on the Warner University campus.
With the win, the Bruins improved to 4-7 on the season. MVNU fell to 10-4 overall.
Bellevue pounded out 12 hits in the victory and did not commit a fielding error. Andrew Ishii went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run, and two RBIs. Zach Diehl drove in four runs after going 2-for-3 with a double. Payton Higgins finished 2-for-5 with a home run and a pair of RBIs.
The Cougars got on the board first when Yanni Patten singled up the middle, driving in Jake Glover to give MVNU an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
BU tied the contest in the top of the third when Diehl scored on a fielding error by left fielder Damien Kandel.
The Bruins took their first lead in the top of the fourth on Ishii's two-run homer to left-center, giving BU a 3-1 advantage.
Higgins made it 4-1 in the top of the fifth with a solo homer to left-center.
BU plated two more runs in the top of the sixth, extending the margin to 6-1 after scoring on a wild pitch and on Diehl's RBI single to left field.
The Bruins exploded for five runs in the seventh frame, highlighted by Diehl's bases-clearing three-run double to left-center, pushing the BU advantage to 11-1.
MVNU got one run back in the bottom of the seventh, scoring on Toby Walker's infield single that scored Hunter Dent from third, completing the game's scoring at 11-2.
Jarrett Poh (2-1) picked up the victory, scattering five hits with three walks and six strikeouts in six innings of work, giving up just one run on the day.
The Bruins will battle Siena Heights University in an 11 a.m. doubleheader on Sunday (Mar. 1) at Royals Field in Lake Wales, Fla.
