LAKE WALES, Fla. -- Nathan Sprenger drove in nine runs on the day as the #10-ranked Bellevue University baseball team split a pair of games at the Warner Invitational. Bellevue defeated Siena Heights 11-2 on Thursday morning before suffering a 14-10 setback at the hands of Concordia Ann Arbor later in the afternoon.
The Bruins' record now stands at 11-6 on the year. Siena Heights falls to 3-9 on the season while Concordia improves to 13-4.
Nathan Sprenger doubled and homered to drive in seven runs and pace Bellevue to a comfortable 11-2 win over Siena Heights to open play at the Warner Invitational.
Easton Brinton made his first appearance since last October, throwing 47 pitches in 1.2 innings of work. He struck out four, allowing two runs (1 earned) on three hits and a pair of walks.
Bailey Link (1-0) came on in relief of Brinton and threw 4.1 innings of 1-hit ball to earn the win. Zane Leyden pitched a scoreless seventh to wrap up the victory.
Haydn Smith and Cole VanWasshenova each produced RBI-singles in the top of the second to stake the Saints to a 2-0 lead.
Bellevue answered in the bottom half with three runs. Sprenger picked up his first RBI on a sac fly and Conner Barnett chased in a pair of runners with a triple to center field.
Zach Diehl drew a bases loaded walk in the third to make it 4-2 ahead of grand slam off the bat of Sprenger.
Drew Staley grounded out to score a runner from third in the fourth inning and Sprenger capped his day with a two-run double in the fifth.
All 11 Bruin runs were charged to Parker Swartz (0-3) on nine hits and four walks in four-plus innings of work.
Concordia engineered a nine-run second inning to break open a 3-1 ballgame en route to winning a 14-10 slugfest.
Trailing 12-6, Bellevue scored four runs in the fifth inning courtesy of a two-run double by Sprenger and a two-run triple from Zach Diehl to cut the deficit to two.
Concrodia added single runs in each the fifith an sixth innings to provide some insurance.
The game was interrupted in the bottom of the second due to a lightning delay.
Bellevue used four pitchers in the ballgame with starter Blake Crippen taking the loss to fall to 3-2. Alexandro Celiceo was the most effective reliever, pitching a scoreless inning after coming on in the sixth.
Alex Stufft finished the game with a team-high three hits. Josh Vaughan also had a multi-hit game, his second of the day.
Kenneth Rozmys (2-0) was awarded the win for CUAA.
Up Next:
Bellevue plays two more pool play games tomorrow at the Warner Invitational. The Bruins face Lawrence Tech at 8 a.m. (CST) at Lake Wales High School before taking on Concordia at 7 p.m. (CST) in a rematch of last year's NAIA Opening Round Championship Game.
