Arms silence St. Thomas in DH, series sweep

AUBURNDALE, Fla. -- Bruin pitching limited St. Thomas University to just three runs on 11 hits in a double-header as the No. 7 Bellevue University baseball team finished off a three-game sweep of the Bobcats.

Bellevue improves to 9-7 on the year while St. Thomas drops to 7-11 following their seventh and eighth straight losses.

The three-game series sweep was Bellevue's over a Sun Conference opponent since the Bruins swept Webber International in March of 2009.

Game One: Bellevue 2, St. Thomas 1

Blake Crippen (3-0) fired a complete game, six-hitter allowing just a seventh inning run as Bellevue secure a series win in game one of Monday's twin-bill.

Takumi Maeno scored both BU runs with Elijah Bear batting. Bear reached on a two-out throwing error in the third to put the Bruins on the board. In the fifth, Bear chased home Maeno on a contact play with a ground ball to first.

Lucas Lopez drove in the lone run for the Bobcats, reaching on a two-out single in the seven as Nathan Montagnino scored from third on a play which saw both Lopez and Carlos Polanco advance to scoring position on a throwing error. Crippen then induced a ground ball off the bat of Matt Granato to record the complete game win for the Bruins.

Manuel DeGracia (1-2) was the tough luck loser for St. Thomas, worked five solid innings, allowing just two runs – one earned – on six hits.

Logan Grant finished 3-for-3 with a double and a sac bunt for Bellevue.

Game Two: Bellevue 11, St. Thomas 2

Three Bruins went yard in the nightcap as Bellevue responded to St. Thomas scoring first with five-straight runs.

Luis Rodriguez singled home Kendry Noriega to stake St. Thomas to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.

Alec Ackerman answered with a two-run triple in the home half as the first three batters all reached for the Bruins.

Jake Lacey's second inning sac fly doubled the advantage before Steven Elsner and Nick Grade hit home runs in the third for a 5-1 lead.

Neither team scored in the fourth but Y Oniel's RBI single in the fifth sparked a breath of life into St. Thomas. Gavin Wuschke got a ground ball to end the inning and bring the Bruins back to bat.

A leadoff walk to Elsner was rewarded two batters later as Grade double home pinch-runner Anthony Lind. Grade scored on a wild pitch, CJ Townsend doubled home Bryce Zimmerer, and Lacey singled home Townsend before Logan Grant belted a two-run homer to right to effectively put the game out of reach.

Kenji Miller worked a scoreless sixth and Jace Wessels delivered a 1-2-3 ninth in his Bellevue debut to preserve the win.

Wuschke (1-0) worked five innings of five-hit ball to earn his first win as Bruin.

Angelo Allievi (0-3) surrendered five runs on five hits in just three innings of work, though he did strike out six, to suffer the loss for St. Thomas.

Up Next:

Bellevue travels to Lake Wales, Fla. tomorrow for a 1 p.m. matinee against Warner University (11-6) from Royals Field.