FREMONT, Neb. -- The 10th-ranked Bellevue University baseball team took advantage of six Midland University errors while outhitting the Warriors, 12-9, en route to a 13-4 non-conference victory Tuesday evening at Moller Field.
With the win, the Bruins extended their winning streak to 14 games, improving to 35-8 on the season. MU lost its third-straight game, falling to 22-15 overall.
Note: The game was delayed 90 minutes as the teams waited for the assigned umpires to arrive.
Early control problems plagued Midland starter Jay Lambert who hit Kanta Kobayashi, issued a walk to Conner Barnett, and uncorked a pair of wild pitches to put runners on second and third with no outs. The Bruins were nearly unable to cash in but an error on a Brenton Davis fly ball allowed Kobayashi and Barnett to come home with the game's first runs.
Midland got one run back in the home half off Bruin hurler Cade Sakamoto as Connor Petersen singled through the left side to score Chase Reynolds.
A pair of walks to Zach Diehl and Josh Vaughan chased Lambert before he recorded an out in the second inning. The Bruins plated three runs in the frame with RBI groundouts from Tradd Richardson and Alec Ackerman sandwiched around a run-scoring double from Barnett.
Midland scored three two-out runs in the second Tyler Foster and Dakota Thornton delivered two-out doubles around an RBI-single from Reynolds to trim the Bruin lead to 5-4 and force BU to make a call to the bullpen.
BU quickly responded with two more runs in the third, scoring on a two-out single by Diehl and a botched pickoff play which saw reliever Tyler Seebaum sail a ball into center field to allow Vaughan to race home from second.
Bellevue piled on in the fourth with three more runs courtesy of a three-run homer by Ackerman, his team-leading 13th of the season.
Bailey Link threw 2.1 scoreless innings in relief of Sakamoto as the Bruins carried a 10-4 lead into the bottom of the fifth when Easton Brinton came on in relief of Link.
An RBI single to right field by Barnett and a two-run homer to left field by Ackerman extended the Bruin advantage to 13-4 in the top of the seventh inning.
Brinton (1-0) was credited with the win after throwing four perfect innings on the mound.
Charlie Patterson entered the game in the bottom of the ninth frame and struck out two batters and induced a groundout to secure the nine-run victory for the Bruins.
Ackerman went 2-for-5 with two home runs and six RBIs to lead the BU offense. Barnett finished 3-for-4 with a double and a pair of RBIs.
Bellevue hosts Mayville State University (14-17/11-9 NSAA) this weekend for their penultimate NSAA series. Exact times and dates will be announced in the coming days.
