Nationally Ranked Bruins Narrowly Best V-Hawks

OMAHA, Neb. – The Viterbo University Baseball team suffered a pair of losses on the road to #15 Bellevue University (Neb.) on Saturday afternoon, 10-5 and 2-1. The V-Hawks fall to 10-36 (9-13 NSAA) on the year, while the Bruins improve to 36-11 (21-1 NSAA).

The V-Hawks would take an early lead in the first game, as Spencer Hans' sacrifice bunt scored Brett Stuessel in the top of the first. However, the Bruins took control of the game in the bottom of the second with three runs scored on two homers. The V-Hawks evened the score on a Stuessel RBI and Blake Warner home run in top of the third, but two more home runs led to four Bellevue runs in the bottom. Marcus Hornacek and Garrett Heying both reached home in the top of the first, but yet another homer for BU scored three runs, keeping them in command, and leading to the 10-5 win.

Warner and Ryan Mesa each had two hits and an RBI for the V-Hawks, while Steven Esner had two hits and five RBIs for Bellevue. Cale Beckman (L, 3-5) recorded the loss, while Brock Townsend (W, 4-2) earned the complete game win.

The Bruins would get on the board first in the second game as well, with a two RBI single in the bottom of the first inning. However, Anthony Sanchez would lock in from there on the mound, allowing only two hits over the next six innings. Hans, Stuessel, Hornacek, and Gavin Daniel all had hits for Viterbo over that time as well, and it would be Hornacek in the top of the eighth to get Viterbo on the board, with an RBI single to score Stuessel. However, the rally ended there, Bellevue winning a close one, 2-1.

Stuessel and Hornacek led Viterbo with two hits each, while Anthony Lind had two and two RBIs for Bellevue. Sanchez had eighth strikeouts over 7.0 innings, while Brady Toth (W, 5-2) earned the win and Teron Williams (Sv, 2) the save.

The Series continues on Sunday, April 28, starting at 2 PM.