Crippen matches win record as offensive explosion sees BU secure series sweep

OMAHA, Neb. -- The No. 15-ranked Bellevue University baseball team scored 27 runs in Saturday's double-header as the Bruins polished off a four-game sweep of Valley City State University in North Star Athletic Association play at John Stella Field at Brown Park.

The Bruins improve to 15-9 overall and 4-0 in conference play, while the Vikings slide to 8-17 and 0-4 in league play.

Game One: BU 18, VCSU 2
Bellevue pounded out 19 hits, with 12 different players registering a knock, including all nine starters recording at least one.

Logan Grant, Steven Elsner, and Brendan Luther all went deep in the victory.

Bellevue erupted for a seven-run second inning, scoring twice on an errant throw on Anthony Lind's bunt single. An infield single by Bryce Zimmerer allowed Lind to score from third, and two batters later, Logan Grant hit a three-run home run to give starter Blake Crippen all the support he would need.

Bellevue struck for four more in the third, including back-to-back jacks from Elsner and Luther.
Five more runs in the fourth, and the rout was on. It began with a triple from Lind and ended with a single from Scott Hansen.

Valley City scratched across a pair of consolation runs in the fifth with an RBI double from Daegan Morcom and a sac fly from Tory Nelson.

Those runs were erased in the sixth when Elijah Bear delivered a two-run opposite-field single.
Crippen (3-1) tied a program record with his 24th career pitching victory, moving into a tie with former teammate Alexandro Celiceo (2021-23) and Jerry Wellwood (1997-00). The senior southpaw did not allow an earned run in five innings of three-hit ball, striking out four and issuing one free pass.

Easton Brinton and Brody Burnette each worked a scoreless inning to close out the victory.

Christopher Dietrich (1-2) took the loss for the Vikings, surrendering 10 runs on 11 hits in just 2.2 innings of work.

Game Two: BU 9, VCSU 2
A pair of two-run home runs in the first by Logan Grant and Brendan Luther staked Bellevue to a 4-0 lead en route to another comfortable victory.

Valley City's Takao Cookson (0-1) lasted just 10 batters before giving way to his bullpen. He was charged with allowing four runs on four hits and walking three.

BU starter Gavin Wuschke (3-0) remained unbeaten on the season, delivering a quality start in which he allowed just a pair of runs on three hits and struck out five across six innings of work.

Jake Lacey pushed the lead to 5-0 with a fourth-inning double that scored Bryce Zimmer before coming home on Steven Elsner's single through the left side.

VCSU got on the board in the fifth via a wild pitch on a would-be inning-ending strikeout of Tory Nelson, but the throw to first was just late.

Lacey got that run back for Bellevue with a sac fly in the home half.

Judson Seliskar grounded in a run in the sixth to make it a 7-2 ballgame.

Bellevue tacked on an insurance run in the seventh on an error and one more in the ninth on a towering home run from Alec Ackerman to provide the final margin.

Kenji Miller provided two innings of hitless relief, and Jayden Vinson worked a scoreless ninth to polish off the win.

The VCSU bullpen worked the final seven innings, throwing effectively, allowing five runs – four earned – on eight hits and striking out 10 Bruin hitters.

Up Next:
Bellevue welcomes Morningside University to John Stella Field at Brown Park on Tuesday, Mar. 19, for a 1 p.m. non-conference tilt.