Bruins open season with doubleheader sweep over Mount Mercy

MINNEAPOLIS -- The 17th-ranked Bellevue University baseball team (2-0) opened the 2013 season with a 4-3 and 5-2 doubleheader sweep over Mount Mercy University (0-6) Thursday night at the Metrodome.

The Bruins will conclude their four-game series with MMU tomorrow (Feb. 8) with a doubleheader beginning at 11:45 a.m.

Game 1: Bellevue 4, Mount Mercy 3

Andy Smolinski's two-out RBI single in the sixth inning lifted the Bruins to a 4-3 win in the opener.

BU hit a pair of home runs in the opening inning to take an early 3-0 lead. Kyle Kinman notched a solo blast before Chandler McLaren blasted a two-run home run off MMU starter Abraham Carrasco.

The Mustangs scored their first run of the game with an RBI groundout by Joe Arnold in the bottom of the second.

MMU scored two runs on three hits in the fourth inning to tie the game at 3-3.

Smolinski singled to left field, scoring McLaren, who began the sixth inning with a walk as BU broke the 3-3 tie.

Making his first start since the 2011 season, Robert Greco earned the win for the Bruins, pitching five complete innings with four strikeouts while Tanner Moore recorded the save. Carrasco (0-2) took the loss for the Mustangs, allowing four runs on five hits with six strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work.

Bellevue.........300 001 0 -- 4 6 0
Mount Mercy...010 200 0 -- 3 7 0

2B: BU, Dahmen
HR: BU, Kinman, McLaren
RBI: BU, Kinman, McLaren (2), Smolinski, A.; MMU, Mills, Arnold, Czerwiec

Win: Greco (1-0)
Loss: Carrasco (0-2)
Save: Moore (1)

Game 2: Bellevue 5, Mount Mercy 2

The Bruins used timely hitting, while capitalizing on two Mustang errors to complete the sweep with the 5-2 win in the nightcap. 

Senior Michael Calderon (1-0) collected the win, scattering six hits while striking out six and walking five in six inning of work.

After a scoreless first two innings, the Bruins plated four runs in the top of the third, highlighted by a two-run single by Brian Embery and a sacrifice fly to left field by Moore. 

An RBI double by Kinman in the top of the fourth gave BU a 5-0 advantage. 

The Mustangs sliced into the BU lead with a two-run double by Alex Rodriguez in the bottom of the fourth to make it 5-2.

Bellevue.........004 100 0 - 5 5 0
Mount Mercy...000 200 0 - 2 6 2

2B: BU, Kinman; MMU: Rodriguez

Win: Calderon (1-0)