Kobayashi, Bruins squeeze past Valley City for sweep

OMAHA, Neb. -- After a rousing 14-1 run-rule victory in game three, the Bellevue University baseball team turned to small ball in a 5-4 triumph to secure the four-game North Star Athletic Association sweep of Valley City State University on Sunday afternoon at John Stella Field at Brown Park.

The Bruins (21-7/8-0 NSAA) extend their win streak to eight games while Valley City falls to 12-14 overall and 3-5 in North Star action.

Game One: BU 14, VCSU 1 (7 Innings)

Blake Crippen fired six innings of four-hit ball as the Bellevue bats remained hot, scoring 14 runs on 18 hits to earn the series win.

Drew Nixon singled in Dustin Mertz in the top of the first to open the scoring but did not muster another run off Crippen the rest of the way.

The Bruins quickly answered in the home half. Kanta Kobayashi drew a leadoff walk and Conner Barnett put the Bruins ahead with a two-run home run.

A sac fly from Alec Ackerman and an RBI-single from Mathieu Sirois in the third pushed the Bruin lead to 4-1.

Bellevue tacked on 11 runs over the next three innings to cruise to the victory.

Sirois and Kobayashi each finished 4-for-4 with Sirois recording four singles, an RBI, and a run scored and Kobayashi going for a double, triple, two RBI, and three runs scored. Barnett finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored and the two RBI he picked up on his fourth long ball of the season.

Crippen (5-2) earned the win, striking out eight and walking three while allowing just the first inning run.

Bailey Link worked a perfect seventh to finish off the win.

Zach Veneman (2-1) surrendered seven runs on 10 hits in four innings of work for the Vikings.

Game Two: BU 5, VCSU 4

The series finale featured the best baseball of the weekend as the Bruins manufactured some important late inning runs to rally to a 5-4 win.

Following an error, a walk, two wild pitches, and a passed ball Bellevue put runners on second and third with nobody out in the second inning. Zach Diehl delivered a run-scoring single and Andrew Ishii followed with an RBI-double to stake Bellevue to a 2-0 lead. Despite BU threatening for more, Reed Butz escaped further damage by stranding runners on second and third.

The score remained 2-0 into the fourth where VCSU put their first three runners of the inning on base and Christian Ramirez put the Vikings on the board with a sac fly. Bruin Hunter Magnuson followed with a high fly ball to left that carried out of the park for a three-run home run for a 4-2 Valley City lead.

Facing that two-run deficit in the fifth, Josh Vaughan delivered a pinch hit double to lead-off the frame and took third on a balk ahead of a walk to Kanta Kobayashi. After taking a first pitch strike, Conner Barnett put down a perfectly placed safety squeeze to score Vaughan and advance Kobayashi to third. Alec Ackerman then ripped a double down the left field line to bring in Kobayashi with the game-tying run.

Tradd Richardson led off the bottom of the sixth with a single to center field before being lifted for courtesy runner Brenton Davis. After Ishii drew a walk, CJ Townsend was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Kobayashi. Following a mound meeting, Kobayashi dove at a bunt attempt on a ball that looked outside and short of the plate and got the bunt down to advance all three base-runners, including Davis with the go-ahead run.

Charlie Patterson came on for the top of the seventh and pitched around a one-out walk to secure his first save of the season.

McGrane Pledger (3-3) turned in a very solid start. He allowed four runs over six innings of work, striking out five and walking two, to earn the win.

Butz (4-2) took the loss for the Vikings, allowing four earned runs and five hits in a complete game effort. He struck out eight and walked four.

Up Next:

Bellevue travels to MercyOne Field in Sioux City, Iowa on Tuesday for a non-conference affair with Morningside University with first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m.