As the opening of the 2016 baseball season began this past weekend, the Bellevue College baseball team showed they can adjust on the fly and have stamina as the team played five games in a stretch of two-and-a-half days going 4-1 to start the year. Dominant pitching was the theme from both the starters and strong bullpen over the course of the five games.
On Thursday March 3, Bellevue’s season started two days early as Green River, a nearby college in the NWAC West Region, was in need of a game nearby. The newly added game was played under the lights as BC’s bats flexed their muscles early as Niko De La Cruz hit a first-inning home run off the scoreboard to put Bellevue up. Shane Stober followed with a triple in the gap as the two extra base hits put Bellevue up 3-0. Freshman Josh Thompson got the call for the first start of the season and did not disappoint. The righty went six innings and only allowed 2 hits and 1 walk while striking out 5.
Bellevue’s originally scheduled opening weekend of a Saturday-Sunday series was then moved up to a Friday-Saturday schedule due to projected poor weather on Sunday. After a sunny afternoon, the rain gods were evil to Bellevue by raining non-stop at game time on Friday. With an hour rain delay, the game finally started at 5:55 p.m. Although the ‘dogs collected only two hits, the team found a way to squeak out a 4-2 win, thanks to 4 walks and 4 wild pitches by Pierce’s bullpen pitchers. Drew Lomsdalen went six innings and yielded only 3 hits and 1 run; which was unearned to lead BC. In game two, one big inning did Bellevue in as a disastrous fourth inning in which Pierce scored 6 runs was too much for Bellevue to overcome. Down 8-1 in the final inning, the Bulldogs rallied by plating four runs and had the bases loaded with only one out when the game was called due to the time limit/light curfew. City ordinance and college policy requires all games to be done at 10:45 p.m.
On Saturday March 5, coming off eleven hours of rest, Bellevue traveled to Pierce for another 18 innings and swept the Raiders 5-2 and 1-0. In game one, Joe Wainhouse homered to put the ‘dogs on the board in the fifth inning. Down 2-1, De La Cruz and Evan Johnson singled followed by walks to Stober and Wainhouse, which tied the game at 2. In the eighth, Bellevue capitalized on a Pierce error and a balk to bring in the winning run. Cody Anderson struck out 7 in five innings of work and Zach Usselman worked the final four innings in dominant fashion, allowing no runs in relief. In game two, Dominic DeMiero made his college debut throwing a three-hit shutout through six innings of work. Wainhouse entered to relieve DeMiero and was dominant. With a fast ball that reached 93 mph, Wainhouse did not allow a hit in his three innings of work. Wainhouse also had two hits along with Tino Peleti, who doubled as well. Peleti ended the weekend hitting .440 and was Bellevue’s top hitter over the five-game stretch.
The endurance test is a preview of things to come this week. The Bulldogs will travel nine hours to Ontario, Oregon on Thursday March 10. The next morning, BC will play a tripleheader consisting of three nine-inning games in a row against host Treasure Valley. The squad will then play another two games the following morning before coming home. Anderson will start the opening 11:00 a.m game on Friday March 11. Freshman Elijah Hill will start game two and DeMiero will start game three. On Saturday March 12, Lomsdalen will start game one while the starter for the team’s final game has yet to be determined.
Last Updated March 8, 2016
