OMAHA, Neb. -- The No. 10-ranked Bellevue University baseball team used the long ball to win a 13-7 slugfest in the opener before turning to another light's out pitching performance by Elijah Johnson to take a 4-0 triumph in the nightcap over Viterbo University on the opening day of North Star Athletic Association play for both schools.
Bellevue improves to 15-7 and begins the conference slate with a 2-0 record while Viterbo slumps to 7-15 overall and 0-2 in league action.
Andrew Ishii homered twice as BU rode the power of four long balls to a 13-7 win in the opener.
Kendal Hofer and Conner Barnett traded solo shots in the opening inning before Ishii gave the Bruins the lead with a solo shot in the second inning. BU doubled their lead on an RBI-single by Alec Ackerman later in the frame.
The Bruins tacked on four more in the fourth with Ackerman plating a run on a bases-loaded hit by pitch, a two-run single from Alex Stufft, and a sac fly from Brenton Davis.
The V-Hawks clawed two runs back in the fifth with a solo home run by Blake Warner and a sac fly by Remy Stern.
Barnett singled home a run in the fifth but Brandon Good greeted reliever Alexandro Celiceo – who entered with the bases loaded and retired the first batter he faced – with a grand slam in the top of the sixth to make it an 8-7 ballgame.
Ackerman homered in the bottom half of the inning and Ishii added a solo shot with one out in the seventh to push the BU lead to 10-7.
Three more manufactured runs in the seventh proved to be enough for Celiceo who closed out the game by retiring the final seven batters he faced to pick up his third save of the season. Celiceo finished with nine strikeouts in 3.2 innings of two-hit relief.
Charlie Patterson (5-0) went 5.1 innings and struck out nine to record the win.
Cale Beckman (0-1) took the loss, allowing three runs on six hits in three innings of work, in his first collegiate start.
Elijah Johnson (5-1) fired a one-hit shutout, striking out 14 over seven innings to pitch BU past Viterbo. Johnson extended his scoreless innings streak to 28 2/3 while lowering his ERA to 1.43 and moving up to sixth in the country with 68 strikeouts.
Brenton Davis opened the scoring with a two-run home run in the second, scoring Alex Stufft who had doubled ahead of him.
Conner Barnett added his second home run of the day, a solo shot to center, to make it 3-0 Bruins in the third.
Andrew Ishii capped the scoring with his RBI-double in the fourth, just inside the third base line, to score Zach Diehl who had singled and took second – courtesy of some head's up base-running – on a bobble by the right fielder.
The V-Hawks got a solid performance from Eric Taylor (3-2) who allowed just three earned runs on nine hits in five innings of work.
Kendal Hofer recorded the lone V-Hawk hit, a two-out bloop single in the top of the first.
Up Next:
The Bruins and V-Hawks wrap up their four-game set tomorrow with a noon double-header from John Stella Field at Brown Park.
