NSAA Tournament Central
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VALLEY CITY, N.D. -- The Bellevue University baseball team, after dropping into the loser's bracket, rebounded with an impressive victory on Sunday evening to reach the Championship Round of the North Star Athletic Association Tournament.
In the winner's bracket final, BU fell 6-4 to Mayville but the Bruins responded by posting a 16-5 win over Dickinson State in an elimination game to earn a rematch with the Comets in Monday's Championship.
With their win over Bellevue, Mayville State (34-15) advanced to Monday's Championship Round needing just one win to earn the NSAA's automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round.
Bellevue (37-15) will need to defeat Mayville State twice on Monday to win their third-straight conference tournament title.
Monday's Championship Game is scheduled for an 11 a.m. first pitch on Monday with the second to follow at 2p.m., if necessary.
Game One: Mayville 6, BU 4
Mayville scored twice in three-straight innings to grab command of the game at 6-1 after four and a half innings of play.
Comet starter Joshua Rodriguez worked 3.2 and held BU to a run on three hits and a pair of walks.
After allowing a Josh Vaughan RBI-single earlier in the inning, Rodriguez loaded the bases with a pair of free passes but Alex DeCaro came on and induced a fly ball off the bat of Daniel Teasley to end the frame with Mayville leading 4-1.
The Comets chased Bruin starter McGrane Pledger after just four innings of work, getting to the right-hander for four runs on six hits while drawing three walks.
Pledger fell to 4-3 with the loss.
Cade Sakamoto came on to throw the final five innings and did not allow an earned run while striking out five.
After MSU tacked on a pair of runs in the fifth, Bellevue mounted a rally in the home half of the sixth. Cody Banks singled home Conner Barnett and later came in on a two-run home run by Chaz Lopez.
That would be all that Bellevue would manage against DeCaro (4-1) who retired the final 11 Bruin hitters in order to pick up the win in relief.
Game Two: BU 16, DiSU 5
The Bellevue bats came to life in Sunday evening's elimination game as the Bruins pounded out 15 runs to score a tournament-best 16 runs.
Bellevue scored three runs in each of the first two innings to stake themselves to a 6-0 lead before Dickinson responded with four runs of their own in the home half of the second.
The Bruins, after allowing a handful of runs on starter Charlie Patterson's watch, received a spectacular performance out of the bullpen from Elijah Johnson. Johnson (2-1) fired 5.1 innings of scoreless, two-hit relief while striking out four to earn the victory.
With the game remaining a one-run affair into the sixth, Bellevue struck for four runs to take a 10-5 lead. The biggest blow came during Daniel Teasley's at-bat where, after a bases loaded balk forced home a run, Teasley delivered a two-run triple to the right center gap.
The Bruins struck for four more in the eight with Alec Lee launching a three-run pinch-hit homer and Payton Higgins singling in another run for a 14-5 lead.
Two more runs in the ninth, courtesy of a pinch-hit homer by Nic Metcalf, accounted for the final margin.
Tamarek Wrinkle (2-1) was tagged with the loss after allowing six runs (four earned) on four hits and a pair of walks in just two innings of work.
