Big first inning sees Webber down BU

BABSON PARK, Fla. -- A four-run, one-hit first inning by No. 12 Webber International University gave the Warriors an 8-3 win over the No. 7 Bellevue University baseball team in non-conference action on Thursday afternoon at Brad Niethammer Field.

Webber won their 11^th-straight game to up their mark to 19-3 while the loss snapped BU's four game winning streak as the Bruins fell to 10-8.

Bellevue jumped on the board with a pair of runs in the first. Jake Lacey and Logan Grant led off the game with a pair of infield singles, Grant's of the bunt variety, and scored on Brendan Luther's two-strike, two-out single through the right side.

The Warriors responded with a four-run inning in the home half of the first inning. Ryan Recio reached on an infield single to score Jonathan Vega and Brian Morales drove in two with a sac fly when Lacey made a catch falling down on the warning track. A second Bruin error on Gabriel Cruz's batted ball allowed another run to come across for Webber.

Blayne Huter settled in for Webber, allowing just one hit over the next three innings.

Dustin Schorie worked a 1-2-3 second before the Warriors loaded the bases with one out in the third before a high chop to third off the bat of Cruz scored a run from third with a fielder's choice for a 5-2 WIU lead.

BU put runners on the corner with one out in the fifth but Huter wriggled out of trouble with a shallow fly ball off the bat of Alec Ackerman and a strikeout of Steven Elsner.

Tyren Milliner took the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the fifth deep to right, just out of reach of Anthony Lind's leaping attempt at the wall

Luther and Nick Grade led off the sixth with a pair of singles and moved to second and third, courtesy of a sac bunt from pinch-hitter Tyler Monroe. Huter again escaped harm, striking out Lind and CJ Townsend to keep the Warriors 6-2 in front.

Webber tacked on an insurance run off reliever Kenji Miller in the sixth with Camren Carrol's single to left field scoring Richard Rodriguez from second.

Brodey Neveker drove in another Warrior run in the seventh with a two-out single.

Townsend led off the ninth with a double and came around to score on a base hit up the middle by Lacey as Bellevue sought to make things interesting. A pop out and double play ended the game as the Warriors locked up the 8-3 win.

Schorie (3-1) took his first loss as a Bruin, working five innings and allowing six runs (three earned) on four hits. He struck out three, walked one, and hit three batters.

Huter (4-0) earned the win a quality start. He struck out nine over six innings and allowed just two runs while scattering eight hits.

Dylan Martin came on in relief for Webber in the seventh and worked three effective innings of relief to record his first save of the season.

Bellevue plays Mount Marty University tomorrow at 3 p.m. (ET) at Ted A. Broer Stadium in Lakeland, Fla. on the Southeastern University campus.