DICKINSON, N.D. -- After being held scoreless over their previous 16 innings by Dakota State's JD Kirchner, the No. 5-ranked Bellevue University baseball team finally solved the funky right-hander in a 7-1 victory over the Trojans on Sunday evening.
The top-seeded Bruins improved to 44-8 on the season while the No. 2 seed DSU slid to 36-17.
Bellevue 7, Dakota State 1
Blake Crippen (9-2) spun a gem on the hill for the Bruins, scattering six hits in a complete game effort as he allowed just one run and struck out four. The win was the 20th of his Bruin career; he is just the seventh Bruin pitcher to reach the 20-win plateau and joins Alexandro Celiceo as 20-game winners on this year's squad after Celiceo accomplished the milestone earlier this season.
Tradd Richardson opened the scoring for Bellevue when he doubled home Mathieu Sirois in the top of the second.
That lead was short-lived as Hakeem Yatim reached on a bases-loaded infield single to score Chris Burke.
Kanta Kobayashi doubled leading off the third, ahead of a Drew Staley base hit, and scored on Logan Grant's RBI-groundout.
From there Crippen and JD Kirchner were both nearly untouchable with BU maintaining their slim 2-1 advantage into the eighth. Just three runners from each side reached base from the time of Grant's groundout until the eighth.
Grant led off the eighth with a single to center field and the Bruins put two runners in scoring position after Jake Lacey wore a pitch and the runners moved up on a wild pitch. Anthony Lind singled the other way to chase both runners home and widen the lead to 4-1.
Crippen worked a scoreless eighth to get the Bruin offense back at the plate. After a pair of quick outs, Staley took a body shot from a Kirchner pitch ahead of an RBI-double from Grant to chase Kirchner.
Kirchner's (7-3) final line betrayed his performance as he was charged with allowing six runs on eight hits and striking out six batters.
Nick Grade greeted reliever Aiden Rocha with a double to plate Grant and BU tallied another insurance run on a double steal attempt.
Crippen trotted back out to the hill for the ninth and worked a 1-2-3 inning to polish off the complete game win.
Up Next:
Bellevue will play in tomorrow's NSAA Championship Game at 3:30 p.m. against the Game 13 winner.
Dakota State faced the winner of the Dickinson State-Mayville State game in an elimination game tomorrow at noon.
