Bruins take first two on Florida Trip

AUBURNDALE, Fla. -- The No. 15-ranked Bellevue University baseball team won the first two games of their annual Florida trip, taking down Ave Maria University 3-2 on Friday and defeating Siena Heights University 16-6 on Sunday.

Winners of three-straight, Bellevue improves to 5-6 on the season.

The Bruins are back in action this evening with a 5 p.m. Central (6 p.m. Eastern) first pitch against Warner University from Royals Field in Lake Wales, Fla.

Friday: BU 3, AMU 2

Steven Elsner broke open a scoreless game in the sixth with a two-run home run to plate Jaylan Ruffin who had walked earlier in the inning.

The Bruins added a run in the seventh when Anthony Lind came around.

Parker McMan (1-0) delivered a quality start for the Bruins, scattering five hits over seven innings of one-run ball.

The Gyrenes scratched across single runs in the seventh and eighth but Brayden Andersen came out to work around a base hit in the ninth to earn his first save of the season.

Hunter Cashero (1-5) took the loss for the Gyrenes despite a solid outing that saw him strike out nine over seven innings while limiting the Bruins to three runs on four hits.

Elsner, Logan Grant, Scott Hansen, and CJ Townsend accounted for the four BU hits.

Jesus Gonzalez homered in the loss for Ave Maria.

Sunday: BU 16, SHU 6

Kenji Miller (2-0) struck out a career-high 13 batters over seven solid innings of work and the Bruins exploded for a pair of five-run innings to close the game.

The Bruins totaled nine extra-base hits in the win. Anthony Lind finished 3-for-5 with a double and a pair of home runs, driving in five on the day. Jake Lacey went 5-for-6 with a pair of doubles and scored three runs. Scott Hansen finished 3-for-6 with a pair of doubles of his own, two RBI, and two runs scored.

Elijah Tanner (3-4, 2B) and Nick Gravel (2-4) each posted multi-hit games and drove in a pair of runs.

Siena Heights struck first with an RBI-double from Mac Melvin in the first and solo home run from Caden Gomes in the third.

Bellevue tied the game in the fourth with two runs courtesy of Lind's first blast and a run-scoring single from Gravel.

The Bruins tacked on four more in the sixth before a Melvin home run and RBI-triple from Mil Ramsey cut the Saints' deficit in half, 6-4.

After a squeeze play from pinch-hitter Nolan Walther scored a run, Lind broke the game wide open with his second bomb of the day, a three-run shot. BU added another run on a wild pitch to cap a five-run inning.

The offensive onslaught continued with five more runs in the ninth as the first five Bruin batters of the inning all came around to score.

The Saints scored a pair of consolation runs with two outs in the ninth to account for the final margin.