By Matthew Lee

Bellevue (21-4) defeats Lexington (9-16) 3-2 to advance to Bluffton University next Thursday, May 17^th to face Lima Shawnee and talented junior right-handed pitcher Cory Wilder.

This was, no doubt, a pitcher’s duel between Bellevue ace, junior Dalton Jarvis, and Lexington’s sophomore Zach Temple, who was coming off a no-hitter on Saturday against Willard.

Lexington struck first in the top of the second inning when junior James Watkins had a one out single to left field. Junior Alex Gerrell smoked a ball over the left fielders' head for a double to put the runners on second and third. Freshman Evan Lee followed with a line shot to second base that scored Watkins from third base.

In the top of the third, Lexington sophomore Brody Basilone led off with a triple over the right fielder’s head. Junior Mason Willeke laced a single to left, scoring Basilone and stretching the lead to 2-0.

Bellevue took advantage of a little wildness from Temple in the bottom half of the third inning. Senior Ryan Geary led off with a single. After a pop up, junior Alex Manner singled and senior Matt Sieger walked to load the bases. Temple walked junior Trent Stamm to make it a 2-1 game. Freshman Jake Strayer then hit a bomb to center that Basilone ran down for a sacrifice fly to make it a 2-2 game. Junior Nick Raifsnider laced a single to put Bellevue up 3-2.

Trailing 3-2 heading into the seventh inning, Lexington’s Lee led off with a rope back up the middle to put the tying run on base. The base hit forced a pitching change for Bellevue. Senior Cody Bauer put down a perfect bunt to sacrifice Lee to second base with one out. Manner settled down and struck out Basilone and Willeke to end the game at 3-2.

Jarvis got the victory, pitching into the seventh inning. He allowed two runs on six hits while walking one batter and striking out five. Manner picked up the save working the 7th with two huge strike outs. Temple suffered his fifth loss of the year going the distance. He surrendered three runs on eight hits while walking two and striking out four.

Offensively, Geary put together an impressive day going 3 for 4 while also reaching base in the sixth on an error.