DICKINSON, N.D. -- In a back-and-forth affair, the top-seeded and No. 5-ranked Bellevue University baseball team prevailed 9-7 over Mayville State University to claim the 2023 North Star Athletic Association Championship on Monday afternoon.
Bellevue improves to 45-8 on the year as they win their second-straight NSAA Tournament Championship. The tournament title is their 17th all-time, dating back to their time in the MCAC.
Mayville State ends their season with a 24-24 overall record.
Bellevue 9, Mayville State 7
Logan Grant drove in four runs and Mathieu Sirois hit the go-ahead home run in the seventh inning to power Bellevue to victory.
Grant put the Bruins on the board first, singling to third with Kanta Kobayashi scoring on the play. Three batters later Drew Staley scored on an error to double the Bruin lead.
An inning later, Grant singled home two more runs with an opposite field base hit.
Kole Jessamine delivered a three-run home in the top of the third to make it a 4-3 ball game.
Starter Easton Brinton departed with a 4-3 lead after three innings as Bellevue used four pitchers in the victory, none going more than three innings.
Mayville starter Connor Cory hung a couple of zeroes and saw his Comets take the lead. Marcus Hughes scored on a wild pitch in the fourth and Carson Lundmark singled drove home Anthony Villanueva with a base hit in the sixth.
The Bruin offense would ensure that lead was short-lived as the first three batters of the sixth all reached safely. Kobayashi brought in the game-tying run with a fielder's choice and proceeded to swipe second. Two batters later, Grant again singled home a pair of runs to Bellevue in front 7-5.
Jessamine and Ricky Marquez both reached to open the seventh as BU again made a call to the bullpen. A sac bunt and a strikeout nearly saw the Bruins escape unscathed but Adam Senden came through with two outs as he singled home both runners. Parker McMan induced a fielder's choice to end the inning but with the score now tied.
Sirois put Bellevue in front to stay in the bottom of the seventh with his 12th home run of the year. After a double by Tradd Richardson, Kobayashi took an intentional walk that Staley punished the Comets for with a base hit to score courtesy runner Takumi Maeno.
Bellevue left the bases loaded in the inning but McMan allowed just one base runner the rest of the way to nail down the win. McMan (4-3) earned the win with three scoreless innings of relief. He struck out a pair and allowed two hits.
Senden (0-1) took the loss for the Comets, allowing both seventh inning runs in two-thirds of an inning of work.
Up Next:
Bellevue sets their sights on the NAIA National Tournament. The Bruins have already been announced as one of 10 NAIA National Tournament Opening Round sites and will host the Bellevue Bracket Monday-Thursday, May 15-18 at Don Roddy Field on the campus of Bellevue East High School.
The 2023 NAIA National Tournament Selection Show is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 11 where all the brackets on the Road to Lewiston will be announced.
