Baseball Defeats Bellevue 6-4 to Stay Alive in NAIA Opening Round
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Saint Francis (Ind.) | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 2 |
|
Bellevue (NE) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. – The University of Saint Francis (Ind.) baseball team faced Bellevue University on day two of the NAIA Baseball Championship Opening Round in Williamsburg, Ky. on Tuesday, May 14.
The No. 4 Cougars defeated the No. 2 seeded Bruins by a final score of 6-4 to earn their first win in the national tournament in program history.
USF took control of the game with an early 4-0 lead in the top of the 2nd inning thanks to an RBI walk from Callan Stauffer and two singles from Jayden Lepper andXavier Croxton. The Cougars struck again in the 4th inning when Nick Parsons hit a two-run homerun to left field to put USF up 6-0. The Bruins responded with a homerun of their own in the 7th inning. Bellevue would score again in the 7th and 8th innings to cut Saint Francis's lead to two, but the Cougars would hang on to win 6-4.
As a team, Saint Francis had 10 hits, including a double from Eli Riley and a homer from Parsons. Parsons was 2-4 with two RBI, while Kolton Cardenas hit 1-2 with two walks and a run scored. Croxton went 3-5 at the plate with one RBI and two stolen bases.
Perry Stow was efficient on the mound for USF, striking out seven Bellevue batters while holding the Bruins to four hits in 6.1 innings pitched. Graham Kelham earned his 12th save of the season after striking out five hitters and only giving up one hit in 2.2 innings of relief.
Following the game Coach Butcher said, "I'm proud of the way this team bounced back after yesterday. Our pitching this morning was electric, and our offense put together timely hitting that allowed us to come out on top."
The Cougars are now 38-18 overall. With the win, USF advances for a rematch against Park University (Mo.) in another elimination game at 4:00 PM on Tuesday.
Cougar fans stay updated with all events and recaps with USF Athletics by visiting saintfranciscougars.com or by downloading the Saint Francis Cougars app.
