On Thursday afternoon, the Bears made the most of an idyllic May afternoon with a 10-0 victory over Citius Prep.

Chris Nell took the mound for the Bears and looked strong right from the start, needing just 11 pitches to get through the top of the 1st with a pair of strikeouts and a line out. He threw up two more zeros in the 2nd and 3rd but didn’t receive any offense until the Blue & White staged a two-out rally in the 3rd. The rally began with a Jordan Serrano double. Jojo Franco was hit by a pitch and a Seth Laureano walk loaded the bases. Juju Martinez earned a full-count walk to plate the first run.

Nell worked a 1-2-3 top of the 4th to hold the lead before the offense opened the floodgates in the bottom half. The Bears began the inning with five straight walks, including a run of 14 straight balls, to Travis Stroud II, Mateo Lopez, Aiden Ruiz, Jayden Stroman, and Serrano. Without lifting the bat off their shoulders, the Bears extended the lead to 3-0. A Franco single brought home two for a 5-0 advantage. Laureano sent a sacrifice fly to right field to bring home another run. A pair of wild pitches allowed Franco and Stephen Cisz to dash home with an 8-0 lead. Two more walks then followed to Stroud II and Lopez. Ruiz singled to push home another run. Stroman followed with a walk to give the Bears a 10-0 lead and end the scoring. When the dust settled after a frenetic 4th, the Bears had sent 15 batters to the plate, worked 10 walks, and scored 9 runs.

With the 10-run mercy rule in effect, Nell ended the game with a scoreless 5th, working around a single and walk to end the game with a fly out and strikeout.

Nell earned the win by giving up just 3 hits and ringing up 5 strikeouts over 5.0 shutout innings. Stroman and Franco paced the offense with 2 RBIs apiece.

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