Bellevue splits with #25 Friends
Bellevue suffered a 6-2 setback in the opener before responding with an 11-4 win in the nightcap to earn a non-conference split with #25 Friends on Sunday afternoon at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.
WICHITA, Kan. -- The Bellevue University baseball team split a double-header against #25 Friends University on Sunday afternoon at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in non-conference action.
Friends claimed a 6-2 victory in game one before Bellevue flipped the script for an 11-4 game two victory as the Bruins improved to 7-8 on the year against ranked teams.
Bellevue now stands at 22-17 on the year and Friends rests at 26-11.
Up Next:
Bellevue is scheduled to host York College on Wednesday, Apr. 11 at 4 p.m. at John Stella Field at Brown Park while Friends is slated to host #10 Science & Arts (Okla.) on Tuesday, Apr. 10 at 4 p.m. at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.
Game One: Friends 6, Bellevue 2
Troy Puga turned a tight 1-0 game into a comfortable 5-0 Friends lead with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the third inning as the Falcons picked up a 6-2 win over BU in game one of Sunday's twin-bill.
The Falcons jumped on the board in the first inning with some A-B-C baseball. Augie Isaacson led off the game with a single and moved to second on a sac bunt from Reily Carroll before coming in to score on a base knock from Jace Snodgrass.
The score remained 1-0 into the bottom of the third, with Friends' Jason Braziel retiring all nine batters he faced to that point, before Puga sized up an 0-1 pitch that cleared the center field wall to unload the bases and push the lead to 5-0.
Bellevue got two runs back in the fourth. Kory Longaker led off the inning with a double before back-to-back one out doubles from Riley Baasch and JT Patterson saw the Bruins cut the lead to 5-2.
An RBI-single from Carroll in the home half of the fourth made it 6-2.
Jason Braziel (9-0) picked up his ninth win in 10 appearances – all starts – for Friends with a complete game effort. He allowed just five hits and struck out five without issuing a walk.
Colten Barnes (2-5) was saddled with the loss for the Bruins.
Game Two: Bellevue 11, Friends 4
Bellevue scored four runs in the opening half inning and never looked back on their way to an 11-4 victory in game two and a double-header split with Friends.
Bellevue scored in six of the game's seven innings, only failing to do so in the second.
BU racked up nine extra-base hits in the game with Travis Tanaka (3rd) and JT Patterson (7th) each leaving the yard and finished with a game-high three hits. Riley Baasch and Matt Evans also had multi-hit games for the Bruins.
Stephen Knapp (4-1) earned the victory on the hill for the Bruins with six innings of four-hit ball. He struck out six and issued just one walk before giving way to the bullpen.
Alex Dafoe (4-4) took the loss for Friends.