LAKELAND, Fla. -- Addiel Quintana's 11th inning sac fly lifted #17 St. Thomas to a 7-6 comeback victory over the 24th-ranked Bellevue University baseball team at TigerTown.
The Bobcats improve to 14-5 as they avoid the three-game sweep while Bellevue falls to 10-4 and sees their six-game win streak halted.
Bellevue wasted no time in scoring a pair of runs in the top half of the first.
Jack Khawly gave St. Thomas a 3-2 lead in the bottom half of the inning, with a two-run double to left-center.
Neither starter pitched deep into the game as Bruin left-hander Charlie Patterson was lifted in the sixth and BU chased STU starter Cristopher Coipel in the fifth.
Alex Stufft restore the Bruin advantage with a two-run home run to left in the fifth.
Brenton Davis singled home Tradd Richardson in the fifth and Zach Diehl came around to score later in the frame on a safety squeeze by Nathan Sprenger.
After a rough first inning, Patterson yielded just four hits over his final five innings of work and departed with a 6-3 lead.
St. Thomas chipped away, scoring single runs in each the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings to tie the game and force extras.
Bellevue had a runner thrown out at the plate in the seventh while St. Thomas saw the potential winning run cut down at third in the ninth.
Both teams went relatively quietly in the 10th. However, Bellevue threatened in the 11th as Drew Staley reached on a hit by pitch to lead off the inning and advanced to third on Brenton Davis' two-out single to right. With runners on second and third, Jose Machado got Sprenger to fly out to end the inning.
Josue Rangel reached on an error to lead off the bottom of the 11th and advanced to third on Ezequiel Valdez' base hit before Quintana drove him in with the walk-off sac fly.
BU's left-handed hitters thrived, going a combined 7-for-11, with Kanta Kobayashi tallying four hits and Brenton Davis delivering three for the Bruins who pounded out 10+ hits for the seventh-straight game, finishing with 13 on the afternoon.
Machado (1-0) picked up the win with a scoreless inning of relief. Alexandro Celiceo (0-1) took the loss despite pitching well out of the 'pen.
Bellevue faces Warner University (20-6) tomorrow at 5 p.m. from Royals Field in Lake Wales, Fla. The Royals, receiving votes in the NAIA Preseason Coaches' Poll, bring a 12-game winning streak into the contest.
