Bellevue College baseball went 1-2 at the NWAC Championships, eventually falling to Umpqua 9-2.
On opening day, the Linn-Benton Roadrunners won an outstanding pitchers’ duel, defeating Bellevue 1-0 in 10-innings. The defending champion Roadrunners (31-10-1) won on a walk-off RBI grounder by Kolten Lindstrom that forced a Bellevue error to end the game. LBCC loaded the bases with one out after singles by Jake Homes and Brooks Avery and an intentional walk of Conner Boyd. Lindstrom hit a hard grounder to second base that forced a quick decision from Bellevue, resulting in an error.
Both starting pitchers were outstanding in the game. LBCC’s Connor Mendez excelled on the mound with nine shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out six. He did not factor into the decision as Noah Dewey pitched a shutout 10th frame in relief. On the other side of the duel was Bellevue starter Tristan Aasland who also had a shutout threw nine innings. Aasland pitched into the 10th inning before leaving with the bases loaded and one out. He struck out five and allowed eight hits and two walks.
For the Bulldogs, TJ Armstrong was the lone player to record a hit as he ended Mendez’ no-hit bid in the top of the sixth.
Following the devastating opening day loss, Bellevue bounced back to defeat Columbia Basin convincingly 8-1 in game six of the 2025 NWAC Baseball Championship.
The Bulldogs scored their first run of the game in the third inning, tacking on three more in the fourth and two in the fifth to take a 6-1 lead. They then added two more in the eighth to roll through to the following round on Saturday.
The Bellevue pitching staff did not need much support as starter Terry Hayes went five innings, allowing one unearned run on five hits with one walk and five strikeouts. Relief pitcher Ethan Thomas took care of the rest, picking up a four-inning save as he limited CBC to one hit with two walks and five punchouts.
Bellevue put up the most runs in a game in the tournament thus far. Jackson May brought the first run home on a sacrifice bunt in the third. Ollie Hogan had an RBI double in the fourth to score Brandon McKinley. Hogan later scored on an error. Drew De La Cruz drove the first of his three RBI with a single. He later drove in two more runs in the fifth on a double.
Later in the eighth, Braeden Reese doubled to score Eliot Oster. Reese later scored on an RBI single by Noah Fields to end the scoring. Fields and De La Cruz led the Bulldogs with two hits each.
In Saturday’s elimination game, Umpqua got starting pitcher Sam Coffman an early lead in the game, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning. They got the first run across as Carson Dunn and Zane Bidwell put on a double steal. The throw went to second and bounced shallowly into the outfield, allowing Dunn to score from third. Then with two outs, Noah Cox hit a two-run double to extend UCC’s lead to 3-0.
Oliver Hogan got the Bulldogs on the board in the third with a two-run home run to deep left-center field, scoring Brandon McKinley and cutting the deficit to 3-2.
From there it was all Riverhawks as Jackson Thomsen singled in Cox in the fourth and Ryson Waalani brought Dunn home on a fielder’s choice play at home. Dunn was initially called out but after review was determined obstruction the run was awarded. In the seventh, Umpqua loaded the bases and Jeremiah Robbins was hit with a pitch to bring home Bidwell.
Hogan had two hits for Bellevue and both RBI. Noah Fields went 3-for-5 for the Bulldogs and TJ Armstrong finished 2-for-4. The Bulldogs finish the season with a 34-21 record and will tie for fifth place overall.
Last Updated May 29, 2025
