DICKINSON, N.D. -- The 11th-ranked Bellevue University baseball team defeated Dickinson State University 8-2 and 13-2 on Saturday afternoon to extend their win streak in North Star Athletic Association games to 10.
The Bruins improve to 23-8 overall and remain perfect in league play at 10-0 while the Blue Hawks dip to 11-17 overall and 5-5 in the North Star.
Bellevue scored in each of the last four innings to turn a two-run lead into an 8-2 victory.
Alexandro Celiceo (3-1) went the distance on the hill for the Bruins. He struck out four while limiting the Blue Hawks to two runs on four hits.
The Bruins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning with Kanta Kobayashi stealing home and Conner Barnett scoring on a wild pitch.
The lead remained there until Alex Stufft homered in the sixth and Kobayashi singled home Andrew Ishii in the seventh to make it 4-0 BU.
A Mathieu Sirois double and Brenton Davis singled each chased home runs in the eighth.
Dickinson finally got on the board in the bottom of the eighth with pinch runner Nathaniel Jilek scoring on a wild pitch.
Kobayashi tripled home Ishii and later came in to score on a ground ball by Alec Ackerman in the ninth.
Ackerman finished 3-for-5 on the game, Kobayashi went 2-for-4 with a walk, a triple, and two RBI, Barnett went 2-for-5, and Ishii finished 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles.
Jacob Clinton hit a solo homer for the Blue Hawks in the ninth to account for the final margin.
Jacob Scully (2-2) suffered the loss for DSU, despite allowing just two earned runs on seven hits over seven innings of work. He allowed four runs in total, struck out four, and walked two.
Bellevue pounded out 12 hits and received their second complete game effort of the day.
Elijah Johnson (7-1) struck out 11 batters for the Bruins while limiting Dickinson State to two runs on five hits.
Dawson Cortese finished 2-for-3 and scored both runs for DSU, coming around on a single by Richie Cortese in the second and a triple off the bat of Derrick Calvillo in the seventh.
Sandwiched between Cortese's runs were 13-straight runs from the Bellevue offense. Conner Barnett drew a bases loaded walk to open the Bruin account in the third while Kanta Kobayashi and Drew Staley both scored on an error and Barnett came home on a sac fly.
Bellevue put up four more runs in the fourth with a Barnett sac fly, two-run triple by Alec Ackerman, and a run-scoring single from Mathieu Sirois.
Brenton Davis hit the first of two Bruin home runs in the fifth, a solo shot, before Tradd Richardson scored Zach Diehl with a ground out.
Leading 10-1, Josh Vaughan scored on a wild pitch and Richardson hit a two-run homer in the seventh to push the lead to 13-1.
Davis, Diehl, and Ishii each finished 2-for-3 in the ball game and Richardson was 2-for-4. Ackerman led the way with four RBI while Richardson chased home three.
Brannan Hogan (1-3) surrendered eight runs – five earned – on eight hits in just four innings of work as he took the loss for DSU.
Up Next:
The Bruins and Blue Hawks wrap up their series with a double-header tomorrow beginning at 1 p.m.
