Bellevue College baseball took three of four games from Shoreline this past weekend May 7-8. On Saturday May 7, Bellevue’s Cody Anderson and Shoreline’s Sam Boone, the NWAC top two strikeout leaders, faced off in game one. Anderson and Bellevue prevailed 7-0. Anderson scattered only 4 hits through his six innings of shutout ball before giving way to Travis Ulvestad, who went the final three innings without giving up a run to earn the save. Bellevue’s offense saw several players come through with key RBI’s including the top five players in Bellevue’s order in Lawyer Braun, Austin Pinorini, Jordan LaFave, Evan Johnson, and Joe Wainhouse. In the nightcap, the Bulldogs experienced what may have been the most disastrous inning in team history as the squad gave up 9 runs that had everything from odd plays, to errors to Shoreline’s hitters finding every hole in the field to drop base hits into. After the inning that would never seem to come to end finally did end, the team was buried in a 13-3 deficit. The offense would rally though putting up 4 quick runs in the next two frames but could not overcome the nightmarish fourth inning. LaFave led Bellevue’s offense with 3 hits while Pinorini had 3 RBI.
On Sunday May 8, Bellevue had perhaps their best crowd support of the year, strangely enough as the visiting team, as the team swept a pair behind strong pitching winning 3-0 and 4-2. Dominic DeMiero threw a complete game shutout striking out 8 without walking a batter in the opener. In game two, Danny Torlai, in his first start of the year, continued the streak by going 7 innings without giving up a run before Shoreline finally got 2 on the board in the eighth. Zach Usselman returned back to the mound after battling an injury for the past three weeks and earned the save with a 1-2-3 ninth. Pinorini had 2 hits and 2 RBI’s including the game winner as he singled home Braun who, with two outs walked then stole second base before Pinorini delivered.
With the three games-to one series win over Shoreline, the Bulldogs assured themselves a playoff spot after knocking Shoreline out of contention for the fourth spot in North Region play. However, the one loss to Shoreline on Saturday May 7 now puts Bellevue in a must-win situation this weekend. This upcoming weekend marks the final weekend of regular season play, and the Bulldogs take on Skagit Valley, who just happen to be tied with Bellevue for first place with 14-6 records. The Bulldogs must win the series in order to clinch the league title and guaranteed berth to the NWAC Championships. This upcoming weekend’s series begins in Mount Vernon on Saturday May 14 before the ‘dogs play their regular season finale at home against Skagit Valley on Sunday May 15. Both doubleheaders are set for 1:00 p.m. starts.
Last Updated May 9, 2016
