NAIA coaches' poll for May 2, 2017, with Boyd Nation's ISR. Recaps below.

C Israel Nunez hit a two-RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning to break a 4-4 tie and give the Bravos de León (9-12) a win over the Toros de Tijuana (14-7) at Estadio Domingo Santana in León on April 23. Nunez was followed by SS Hector Hernandez, who hit an RBI double to make the final score 7-4.

RHP Edwin Quirarte to0k the mound for the Toros at the start of the deciding inning. He retired the first two batters he faced, and didn’t retire another one. With two outs and the bases empty, he walked the Bravos’ leading hitter, LF Alfredo Martes. 3B Miguel Torrero hit a single to move Martes to third, and DH Adam Munoz walked to load the bases for Nunez. It was Martes who scored the winning run.

Neither of the starters, LHP Miguel Pena for the Toros and RHP Fernando Villalobos for the Bravos, made it to the fifth inning. The game was scoreless going into the fourth, and Villalobos allowed only one hit over the first three innings. That changed quickly in the top of the fourth. RF Dustin Martin started the inning with a double, LF Cyle Hankerd hit a single, and 3B Alex Liddi hit a single, scoring Martin. CF Corey Brown then hit a three-run home run, chasing Villalobos with the Toros ahead 4-0, but that ended the scoring for the Toros. The Bravos answered with a two-run home run by Munoz, and another two-run home run by CF Rico Noel. The score remained 4-4 until the seventh. The Bravos got double plays in the fifth and seventh.

NAIA coaches' poll for April 18, 2017, with Boyd Nation's ISR. Recaps below.

NAIA coaches' poll for April 4, 2017, with Boyd Nation's ISR. Recaps below.

RHP Luke Gregerson, who played college ball at Saint Xavier, and LHP J.C. Romero, who played for Mobile, played in the final of the World Baseball Classic in Los Angeles. Gregerson played for the champion, U.S.A., and Romero played for the runner-up, Puerto Rico.

NAIA coaches' poll for March 21, 2017, with Boyd Nation's ISR. Recaps below.

NAIA coaches' poll for March 7, 2017, with Boyd Nation's ISR. Recaps below.

Duane Monlux is the Head Coach of the Bellevue University Bruins. The Bruins finished third at the NAIA Baseball National Championship last season His record at Bellevue over seven seasons is 256-97-3. He was selected as Coach of the Year by the North Star Athletic Association for the 2016 season. This interview took place on February 12, 2017, after the Bruins split a double-header with the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma Drovers.

Bob Broughton, courtesyrunner.com: I hadn’t originally planned on talking to you about today’s games [vs. Science and Arts of Oklahoma], but USAO’s got some pitching.

Duane Monlux: Yeah, they do. They had some good arms in both games, and not only that, in the games they played previously. They have some really good starting pitchers, they have the ability to strike people out. They’re a good team. They hit the ball well today, and they’re going to beat a lot of teams, that’s for sure.

BB: We had a lot of balls bobbled by the infielders,but they came up with a couple of big defensive plays in the outfield when they needed them [by RF Randy Ventura]. I’m thinking specifically of the sixth inning of the first game. The right fielder robbed you guys of an extra-base hit, at a point when it really mattered.

DM: Well, we got it back to 4-2, and that would have changed that inning. That was a heck of a play. They played a clean game. They’re a very good baseball team, with good pitching, good hitting, and pretty good defense. They went through the whole nine-inning game with no errors, and they’re absolutely a World Series-caliber team.

The Bellevue Bruins (3-1, ranked #3 pre-season) and the Science and Arts of Oklahoma Drovers (7-4, ranked #7 pre-season) split a double-header with a stiff wind blowing, at USAO. The Drovers won the first game 7-2, and the Bruins won the second game 1-0. Both games were scheduled for seven innings, but it took nine innings to decide the second game.

First game: The Drovers jumped on starter RHP Todd Nicks for four runs on six hits and three walks in the first two innings. The scoring started with an RBI single by 3B Christian Perez in the bottom of the first. RF Randy Ventura scored on a double play ball, and Frankely Gonzalez hit an RBI single. Nicks walked in a run in the second inning.

The Drovers got an excellent pitching performance from RHP Stephen Wright. He went the seven-inning distance, allowed six hit, struck out nine, and didn’t allow an earned run. The Bruins didn’t get on the board until the fifth inning, when C Jake Browne walked, then scored on an error after a single by 2B Blake Macdonald. Macdonald scored when 3B Matt Evans reached on an error.

The Texas Wesleyan Rams (5-2) swept a double-header (two eight-inning games) at home against the Jarvis Christian Bulldogs (7-6) by identical scores of 8-7.

First game: The Rams took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by 1B Julio Ibarra (Caracas, Venezuela) and a two-RBI single by C Aidan Laurini. They led the rest of the way. The Bulldogs got one back in the top of the second on an RBI single by DH Chase Martinez, and another in the fourth on a solo home run by C Carlos Andrade. The Rams added another run in the fifth on an RBI single by SS Casey Moses, and two more in the sixth on an RBI single by DH Dylan Measells (Stuttgart, Germany) and Ibarra scoring on a wild pitch. The Rams led 6-2 after six innings.

The Bulldogs got back into it with three runs in the top of the seventh. CF DeAndre McGuire hit a single into left field with two runners on base. The left fielder lost track of the ball. McGuire came all the way around to score, and it was a one-run ball game. The Rams answered with two runs in the bottom of the seventh; LF Blake Seaton hit an RBI double, was bunted over to third, then scored on a sacrifice bunt by C Garett Crook.