Jimmies force Bruins into "If Necessary" Game tomorrow
Bellevue couldn't solve UJ's Brad Bennett as the Jimmies force an "if necessary' game for the right to go to the NSAA Championship
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 1 |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
VALLEY CITY, N.D. -- After seemingly scoring at will over the course of the North Star Athletic Association's first two rounds the No. 2 Bellevue University baseball team was held in check on Sunday afternoon, falling 6-1 to the University of Jamestown in the first Bracket A Championship Game.
With the Jamestown victory the Bruins and Jimmies will meet against tomorrow at 11 a.m. with the winner advancing to the 2017 NSAA Championship Game at 5 p.m. There, they will face the winner of the Mayville State-Valley City State game which is scheduled for 2 p.m. tomorrow.
Bellevue falls to 49-8 on the season as their 15-game win streak came to a close while Jamestown improved their overall record to 39-18.
Jamestown got off to a fast start with runs in two of the game's first three innings, eager to erase Saturday's 17-4 defeat from Sunday's playbook.
Quinn Irey delivered the game's first run with a squeeze bunt to give Jamestown the lead. Tyler Ludlow led off the inning with a single through the right side, advanced to second on Vince Sablan's sacrifice, took third on a wild pitch, and came in on Irey's bunt.
After stranding a pair of BU runners the Jimmies doubled their advantage in the third. Scooter Turin led off the inning with a base hit to center and was advanced to second on a sac bunt. A wild pitch moved Turin up 90 feet to third and he came in when Kory Wolden set down a bunt that was mishandled allowing UJ to go up 2-0.
Bellevue got a run back in the fourth inning with Diego Iribarren's RBI-single. Miles Campbell reached on a fielder's choice and stolen second with two outs before Iribarren delivered a base knock to center to put the Bruins on the board.
The score remained 2-1 into the seventh when the Jimmies pushed their lead to 4-1. Taichi Sasaki scored on a wild pitch and Matt Noll scored on Christian Shouman's sac fly to give UJ a little breathing room.
A Mark Kane sac fly and a Quinn Irey RBI-single saw Jamestown add two more runs to their lead – making it 6-1 – in the eighth inning off reliever Dylan Thorp.
Joe Moran led off the bottom of the ninth with a single as Bellevue tried mounting a rally but it wasn't to be as the next three hitters went down in order and Jamestown secured the 6-1 victory.
Bruin pitcher Todd Nicks (L, 9-3) kept BU in the game with seven innings of work. He allowed four earned runs on five hits while punching out five.
UJ's Brad Bennett (W, 5-3) went the distance to earn the victory. He allowed just one earned run and struck out eight while scattering seven hits over nine innings on the hill.