BU splits a pair of Top 20 games in Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- In a pair of games against Top 20 opponents on Saturday, the #24 Bellevue University baseball team dropped a 3-2 contest to #9 Oklahoma Wesleyan before rebounding with a 9-8 win over #20 Oklahoma City.

Bellevue now stands at 3-1 on the young seasons. Oklahoma Wesleyan improves to 8-3 while Oklahoma City dips to 5-1.

Game One: OKWU 3, BU 2

Jesus Rojas singled home the game-winning run in the home half of the seventh to lift Oklahoma Wesleyan past Bellevue 3-2.

Kellen Brothers (2-0) went the distance for the Eagles, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out seven.

Elijah Johnson backed up his 10-strikeout performance last weekend by punching out 11 OKWU hitters in five innings of work. He allowed two runs on four hits and walked five.

Cody Muncy opened the scoring for OKWU with a solo home run in the first.

BU and Oklahoma Wesleyan traded runs in the third with the Bruins scoring on a balk and Seth Delgado doubling home Mason Brinkley for the Eagles.

The Bruins manufactured a run in the top of the sixth. Kanta Kobayashi drew a leadoff walk, stole second, and took third on a passed ball before coming home and a double from Alec Ackerman.

After tying the game at 2-2, Bellevue brought Blake Crippen (0-1) out of the bullpen. He worked around a leadoff single to sixth to advance the game to the final inning.

Brothers retired BU in order, striking out the side in the top half of the seventh.

Brinkley led off the bottom with a single to center and reached second on a passed ball. Muncy advanced Brinkley to third with a ground ball to second to bring Rojas to the plate. Rojas singled to left to chase in Brinkley with the winning run.

Game Two: BU 9, OCU 8

Bellevue used a pair of big innings to open the second game, scoring eight runs over the first two innings to race out to an 8-1 lead.

Mathieu Sirois opened the scoring with a two-run single as four of the first five Bruin batters reached. Back-to-back two-out, run-scoring singles from Josh Vaughan and Zach Diehl made it 4-0 before an Oklahoma City error allowed a fifth run to score.

OCU got an unearned run back in the bottom half but Bellevue quickly answered with three in the second. Alec Ackerman drilled a two-run homer and Sirois scored on an error to chase OCU starter Tyler Polk (1-1) after allowing seven earned on eight hits and a walk in an inning-plus of work.

Bellevue padded the lead back to seven, 9-2, on a RBI-grounder from Cade Sakamoto in support of Charlie Patterson (1-0) who was making his first start of the season.

Grant Harrison and Braden Hill combined to limit the Bruins scoreless, allowing just one hit and stranding seven base-runners, over the final three innings.

However, a four-run fourth from OCU chased Patterson with a final line of five earned runs (six total) on nine hits and three strikeouts.

Alexandro Celiceo came out of the arm barn to limit OCU the rest of the way to earn his first save.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Oklahoma City tried to rally. Peyton Crispin doubled and scored on a pinch-hit single by Cade Stephens. A walk to Jesse Fonteboa put the winning run on base and the tying run in scoring position, but Celiceo induced Tristan Williams to fly out to Sirois in left to end the game.

Sirois, Ackerman, and Vaughan all recorded multi-hit efforts for the Bruins in the victory.

Noah Barks and Crispin combined to go 7-for-8 for the Stars, driving in three runs, and scoring three more.

Up Next:

Bellevue wraps up their trip to Oklahoma City tomorrow with a single, nine-inning game against Oklahoma City. First pitch is set for noon from Jim Wade Stadium.