Bruins navigate past Pilots late

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SHREVEPORT, La. -- A five-run seventh inning broke open a tie game as the No. 21-ranked and third-seeded Bellevue University baseball team defeated No. 11-ranked and second-seeded Tournament host LSU-Shreveport 10-7 at Pilot Field on Monday in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round – Shreveport Bracket.

Records:

#21 Bellevue: 44-14
#11 LSU-Shreveport: 47-12

Recap: Bellevue 10, LSU-Shreveport 7

Austin Alexander put Bellevue on the board in the top of the second with an RBI-tripled to right-center to chase home Riley Baasch. Three-straight walks extended the inning and brought in Alexander for a 2-0 Bruin advantage. Bellevue had a chance to extend the lead further but left the bases loaded.

A pair of run-scoring singles in the bottom half of the second from Beaux Guilbeau and Miguel Morgan erased that early BU lead as the Pilots tied the game.

Bellevue responded with two more two-out runs of their own in the third. Baasch and Alexander both delivered run-scoring singles to put the Bruins ahead 4-2.

LSU-Shreveport threatened in the bottom of the third, putting runners on second and third with two outs but Stephen Knapp struck Taylor Fajardo out swinging to end the inning.

The Bruins had a chance to build on their lead on the fourth. After two quick outs again, Bellevue loaded the bases before Tommy Hansen flew out to left to leave the bases loaded and allow Pilot starter Alex Naiser to escape the jam.

In the bottom of the fifth, LSU-Shreveport struck for a pair of runs to tie the game at 4-4. A deep double down the right field line from Fajardo scored Jordan Trahan and a sac fly from Guilbeau chased in the game-tying run in the form of Caleb Lasseigne.

The game remained tied until the seventh inning when BU chased David Jones with four earned runs – of their five in the frame – off the LSU-S reliever. Stuart Eurich delivered a two-run single to right field after a pair of runs had already come in to score in the inning.

LSU-Shreveport pushed across two runs in the seventh inning to cut the deficit to just three runs. With two outs and runners at second and third base Ryne Ray lifted a pop up to shallow right that fell in when Hansen slipped and was unable to come up with the grab.

Bellevue bounced back with an insurance run in the ninth on a Travis Tanaka single to score Baasch for a 10-6 Bruin lead.

Pinch-hitter Ricky Perez delivered a sac fly in the bottom of the ninth to account for the final run of the game for the Pilots as Brandon Desjardins closed the door on the BU win.

Up Next:

Bellevue meets the winner of No. 1-seed Oklahoma City and No. 5-seed York tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. in a winner's bracket game.

LSU-Shreveport faces No. 4-seed Columbia tomorrow at noon in an elimination game.

NAIA National Championship Opening Round

Shreveport Bracket | Pilot Field | Hosted by LSU Shreveport

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