DICKINSON, N.D. – The inaugural Frontier Conference baseball tournament championship goes to the Bellevue Bruins. The #2 team in the country and the top seed in the tournament defeated Valley City State 10-7 and 16-5 on Sunday in the Championship of the tournament in Dickinson.
Valley City State ends the season 26-24-1. Bellevue is now 49-4 and will be hosting an opening round regional which begins on May 11
th.
GAME 1: Bellevue 10, Valley City State 7
The Vikings scored in the bottom of the first on
Alexis Velasco's RBI ground out that brought in
Connor Hoyt who led off the inning with a double.
Cody Wielgosh singled, moving Hoyt to third before Velasco's ground out.
Bellevue answered back with four runs in the top of the second inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Mason Spellecy homered to center field, giving the Bruins a 4-1 lead.
An RBI double by Xavier Lerma made it 5-1 Bellevue heading to the bottom of the third.
In the third, the Vikings took the lead back with five runs. Velasco's two-run double made it 5-3 Bruins. With the bases loaded and one out,
Brady Papineau was hit by a pitch, scoring Velasco to make it 5-4. With two out,
Kaden Rozdeba singled to right, scoring
Hunter Logan and courtesy runner
Diesel Goya to make it 6-5 Vikings.
The score stayed that way until the top of the seventh when the Bruins took the lead back for good. Two runners scored on an error to give Bellevue a 7-6 lead. Carter Claerhout singled to center to bring in another run to make it 8-6 Bruins.
A two-run home run by Claerhout made it 10-6 Bellevue in the top of the ninth.
The Vikings got a run back in the bottom of the ninth, but it was too little too late. Velasco doubled, scoring Devin Minney to make it 10-7 which was the final.
The Vikings outhit the Bruins 11-9.
Alexis Velasco was 2 for 4 with a double, a run scored, and four RBI.
Connor Hoyt was 3 for 5 with a double and two runs scored.
Devon Minney was 2 for 4 with two runs scored.
Kaden Rozdeba was 1 for 4 with two RBI.
Hunter Logan was 1 for 4 with a run scored.
Cody Wielgosh and
Evan Gonzalez were both 1 for 4.
Takao Cookson took the loss allowing nine hits and ten runs, five earned, in 8 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out four.
GAME 2: Bellevue 16, Valley City State 5
For the first four innings, this game was a pitchers duel between Bellevue's Cannon Close and Valley City State's
Connor Martin.
Bellevue scored first when Anthony Lind doubled to left field with one out, scoring Ayden Makarus to make it 1-0 Bruins. It was the first earned run Martin had allowed in 35 2/3 innings.
The Bruins took a 2-0 lead I the fourth on Lind's RBI single.
In the top of the inning, Valley City State got that run back with a sacrifice fly by
Kaden Rozdeba, making it 2-1 Bellevue.
In the bottom of the inning, the Bruins scored four runs. Makarus and Xavier Lerma had RBI singles. Mason Spellecy had a two-run single later in the inning to make it 6-1 Bruins.
Back-to-back RBI singles by
Hunter Logan and
Brady Papineau made it 6-3 Bellevue in the top of the sixth.
In the top of the seventh,
Connor Hoyt's RBI single and
Alexis Velasco's RBI ground out made it 6-5 Bruins.
The Bruins, however, put the game away with seven runs in the bottom of the seventh. Makarus homered to lead off the inning. An RBI single by Lind made it 8-5. Nick Gravel's sacrifice fly made it 9-5. Carter Claerhout's two-run single made it 11-5. A run scored on a wild pitch to make it 12-5. Lerma drove in a run with an infield single to make it 13-5.
In the eighth, a Gravel RBI single and a two-run single by Claerhout made the final 16-5.
Alexis Velasco was 1 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI.
Brady Papineau was 2 for 3 with a run scored and an RBI.
Evan Gonzalez was 2 for 4 with a double.
Connor Hoyt was 1 for 4 with an RBI,
Hunter Logan was 1 for 4 with an RBI,
Kaden Rozdeba was 1 for 3 with a run scored and an RBI, and
Devon Minney was 1 for 3 with a run scored.
Connor Martin took the loss, giving up twelve hits and six runs in 5 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out six which gave him 134 for the season which leads the NAIA and is a new school record.
