OMAHA, Neb. -- The No. 9-ranked Bellevue University baseball team pounded out 32 hits, including seven home runs, to slug their way to a series sweep of Dickinson State University on Sunday afternoon. Bellevue took the opener by a 21-7 margin in seven innings before posting an 11-2 win in the series finale.
With wins in 18 of their past 19, including three-straight NSAA series sweeps, BU improves to 25-5 on the year and remains unbeaten in North Star play at 12-0.
Dickinson State, losers of six in a row, falls to 12-19 overall and 4-8 in conference play.
Game One: BU 21, DSU 7 (7 innings)
Conner Barnett homered and drove in five runs while leadoff man Kanta Kobayashi scored three runs in a 4-for-5 effort.
Logan Grant and Nick Grade also went deep for the Bruins in the win.
CJ Townsend put the Bruins on the board with a two-run single through the right side in the second and Barnett blasted his third home run of the season two batters later as BU jumped out to a 5-0 lead.
Dawson Cortese answered with a three-run homer in the third but another five-spot from the Bruins saw Bellevue take control of a 10-3 game.
Richie Cortese hit his first of two solo shots in the fourth before Bellevue struck for seven in the fifth including a three-run bomb by Grant and a solo job by Grade.
A half inning later, Richie Cortese hit his second home run in the sixth and Jacob Clinton delivered a two-run shot in the seventh. In between Bellevue padded their lead with four more runs in the home half of the sixth.
Starter Easton Brinton (4-1) claimed the win across 6.1 innings while Elijah Boersen recorded the final two outs to end the game.
Brannon Hogan (1-4) took the loss, allowing six runs on seven hits in two innings of work.
Game Two: BU 11, DSU 2
The Blue Hawks grabbed an early advantage in the series finale with Balas Buckmaster putting DSU on the board with an RBI-single in the first and a solo home run in the third.
Still trailing 2-0 in the fourth, Nick Grade cut the lead in half with his team-leading 10th long ball of the season to pave the way for an eight-run inning. Mathieu Sirois obliterated a two-run shot a couple batters later and Anthony Lind homered to straightaway center to cap the scoring in the frame.
Bellevue got an insurance run courtesy of a Jake Lacey sac fly in the fifth and CJ Townsend got in on the home run derby with a two-run blast in the sixth.
Dustin Schorie (3-0) shook off the two early runs to earn a complete game victory, striking out seven and scattering six hits in the win.
Trent Richter (1-4) took the loss. He cruised for the first three innings before being touched up in the fourth for a final line that saw him go 3.2 allowing five runs on seven hits.
Up Next:
Bellevue plays their first road game in nearly a month when they head to York College for a 5 p.m. non-conference match-up on Tuesday, Apr. 4. The Bruins return home to host Waldorf University in a four-game series Friday-Saturday, Apr. 7-8.
