LAKE WALES, Fla. -- John Bean turned in seven quality innings on the hill and eight of nine Royals starters recorded a hit as the No. 7 Bellevue University baseball team saw their four-game win streak grind to a halt, falling 8-2 to Warner University at Royals Field on Tuesday evening.
Warner improved its record to 8-16 on the season, while the Bruins slipped a game below .500 at 7-8 overall.
Rio Russell staked the home side to a 1-0 second inning lead when his sac fly chased home Trey Matthews.
Warner tacked on three runs a frame later with RBI-singles off the bats of Scott Fickas, Josh Strickland, and Matthews to stretch their lead to 4-0.
A two-run knock from Russell in the bottom of the fifth put the Warriors up by six before Bellevue clawed a pair of runs across in the top of the sixth. Daniel Teasley and Payton Higgins provided the RBI-groundout and run-scoring single respectively, to pull BU with four at 6-2.
Warner erased any ideas of a BU comeback with single runs in each the sixth and seventh innings to provide the final 8-2 margin.
John Bean (2-2) limited Bellevue to a pair of runs as he scattered nine hits and struck out eight over seven innings of work. Taylor Briggs came on to toss a pair of scoreless innings of relief, allowing a pair of hits and striking out two, to preserve the victory.
Blake Berry (2-4, double), Alec Lee (2-5), and Higgins (2-4, RBI) all notched multi-hit games for the Bruins.
Charlie Patterson (0-1) allowed six runs on 10 hits over five innings of work, as he took the loss for Bellevue.
Bellevue is off Wednesday before kicking off the Warner Invitational with a pair of contests on Thursday (Mar. 5). BU plays Siena Heights at 8:30 a.m. and No. 2 St. Thomas at 11:30 a.m.
