OMAHA, Neb. -- The Bellevue University baseball team got a 5-4 extra inning walk-off victory in game one before falling to Mayville State University 3-2 in Friday's nightcap as the Bruins and Comets split on the opening day of North Star Athletic Association play.
Bellevue moves to 18-9 overall and Mayville sees their record go to 12-7 while both teams are now 1-1 in league play.
Game One: BU 5, MSU 4 (10 Inn.)
Zach Diehl singled home Nic Metcalf to break a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the 10th inning in game one of Friday's double-header split.
Corey Jackson settled in nicely after a first inning in which Mayville State batted around and plated three runs to take an early lead.
From that point on, Jackson scattered just a pair of hits and a pair of walks as he threw eight solid innings. He struck out 10 and just one of the three runs charged to him was earned though he did not factor in the decision.
Still faced with a 3-0 deficit, Rigo Duarte put Bellevue on the board with his sixth home run to lead off the second.
Andrew Ishii drove in a pair of runs with a fourth inning sac fly and a sixth inning RBI-single to tie things up at 3-3.
After Conner Barnett put Bellevue in front with his run-scoring fielder's choice in the eighth, Marcus Hughes delivered a game-tying single in the ninth to force extra innings.
Alexandro Celiceo (4-0) worked two innings in relief to earn the victory.
Comet starter Conner DiNaro allowed three runs on 10 hits while striking out five in six innings of work. Alexander DeCaro (0-1) allowed two runs on four hits in 3.1 innings in relief.
Game Two: MSU 3, BU 2
After pounding out 14 hits in the opener, the Bellevue bats were limited to just seven hits in game two.
Mayville's Marcus Wohl opened the scoring with a solo home run in the top of the third.
Bellevue answered back with a pair of runs in the fourth which came when Rigo Duarte reached on an error and Josh Vaughn chased home a run with an infield single.
Marcus Hughes tied the game with a sac fly in the fifth before Jared McCorrister plated the go-ahead run with a single to center field.
Bellevue had runners on in both the sixth and seventh innings but were unable to scratch across the tying or go-ahead run.
McGrane Pledger (1-2) took the loss allowing three runs on five hits over five innings and striking out six.
Parker Stohr (3-0) did not allow an earned run while scattering six hits over five innings of work. He struck out four before yielding the mound to Kenny Stewart who recorded the final six outs for his fourth save of the year.
Up Next:
The Bruins and Comets resume their four-game series tomorrow with a double-header scheduled to begin at noon from John Stella Field at Brown Park.
