Baseball swats Bellevue, 15-5

The USAO baseball team took a big first step with a 15-5 victory over Bellevue University (NE) in the opening round of the NAIA Regional Baseball Tournament Monday night in Bowling Green, Ky.

The Drovers are the tournament's top seed and advance to the winner's bracket semifinals against Reinhardt College (GA) who upset second-seed Campbellsville College (KY) 8-3 in an earlier game. Start time for the USAO-Reinhardt game is at 10 a.m.

USAO cutting through four different Bellevue pitchers pitchers with equal effectiveness. USAO had 27 base runners, 14 of which reached by walk.

The Drovers started quickly leading 2-0 after a first-inning double by Kenniel Rivera (SR/Fort Worth, Texas) and a sacrifice fly by Greg Barnette (SR/Anaheim, CA).

The Drovers added four more in the fourth to go ahead 6-0 thanks in part to a two-run double by P.J. Garcia (JR/Glendale, AZ) and a fielding miscue by the Bruins.

Francis Ventura (SR/Yonkers, NY) picked up his 10th win on the mound allowing just four runs through seven innings. He struck out eight walked two and scattered seven hits before yielding to reliever Corey Korenic (SR/Pompano Beach, FL) who pitched the final two innings.

"Francis did a great job on the mound keeping the score down," Coach Mike Ross said. "We had some really good at bats today and took advantage of a couple of errors. We played with confidence and were aggressive. It was fun to watch."

Garcia, who finished the game with four hits and five RBI's put USAO comfortably ahead with a two-run single that made it 6-3.

The Drovers added three in the seventh and three more runs in the eighth to end with a 10-run cushion