BU opens Florida trip with sweep over Warner
The Bellevue University baseball team opened its annual spring trip to Florida with a sweep at Warner University, downing the Royals 4-0 and 11-7 Saturday afternoon at Royals Field.
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
LAKE WALES, Fla. -- The Bellevue University baseball team opened its annual spring trip to Florida with a sweep at Warner University, downing the Royals 4-0 and 11-7 Saturday afternoon at Royals Field.
With the sweep, the Bruins improved to 11-3 on the season. Warner fell to 11-9 overall.
The Bruins will return to action on Sunday (Mar. 7) with a 3 p.m. contest at Webber International University in Babson Park, Fla.
Game 1: Bellevue 4, Warner 0
Corey Jackson pitched a complete-game two-hit shutout and Cody Banks drove in two runs to lead the Bruins to the 4-0 victory in the opener.
The Bruins got on the board in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly to center field by Banks that scored Brenton Davis from third. Davis led off the game with a double to right-center field.
Bellevue made it 2-0 in the top of the second on Rigo Duarte's homer over the left-field fence.
Neither team scored again until BU plated a pair of runs in the top of the fifth on Banks' RBI double to center field and on Riley Baasch's ground-out RBI that scored Banks from third, making in 4-0.
Jackson (2-2) allowed just two hits while striking out five and walking three in seven innings of work.
Game 2: Bellevue 11, Warner 7
The Bruins erupted for 12 hits in the nightcap and used the solid relief pitching of McGrane Pledger to record the 11-7 victory in BU's second game of the day. Eight Bruins recorded at least one hit in the victory.
Davis led off the game with a homer to right field and Baasch's two-run triple to right-center gave the Bruins a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
The Bruins made it 5-0 in the top of the second on an RBI single to right field by Zach Diehl and on a sacrifice fly by Payton Higgins to center field that scored Diehl from third.
The Royals closed to within two runs in the bottom of the second on a two-run single down the left-field line by Josh Strickland and on a three-run double to right field by David Torres, making it 7-5 in favor of the Bruins.
BU answered in the top of the third, scoring on a fielding error by Royal shortstop Zachary Balogh and on a sacrifice fly to left field by Diehl that scored Josh Vaughan from third, giving the Bruins a 9-5 advantage.
WU countered in the bottom of the fourth, plating a pair of runs following a throwing error by BU third baseman Diehl and on a wild pitch by Pledger, pulling WU to within two runs at 9-7.
The Bruins got a pair of insurance runs in the top of the sixth on Vaughan's RBI single to right field and on an RBI double down the right-field line by Lopez, extending the Bruin advantage to 11-7.
Pledger allowed just one hit in the final two innings to secure the victory and earn the win.
Pledger (1-0) earned his first win of the season. scattering one hit with one walk and three strikeouts in 3.1 innings on the mound.
Ryley Rozar (0-3) was tagged with the loss, allowing six runs on five hits, with two walks and two strikeouts in 1.1 innings of work.