ST. LOUIS--The Bellarmine University baseball team got a 3-run homer in the bottom of the first from senior Patrick Brady and a solid pitching performance from Aaron Deatherage to post a 7-4 victory over the No. 17 Northern Kentucky Norse this afternoon in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.

The win puts the Knights in the semifinals of the double elimination tournament where they will face St. Joseph's, 6-4 winners over NKU in the late game today,  In the other bracket, No. 16 Southern Indiana will face the University of Indianapolis.

Bellarmine, the tourney's No. 6 seed, got off to a great start. Deatherage opened the game by striking out GLVC Player of the Year Jason Cisper en route to retiring the side in order.  Then, in the bottom half of the first Todd Duckworth singled to lead off and Michael Morrissette was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with Patrick Brady coming to bat. The Lexington senior delivered with his 12th home run of the season to put the Knights ahead 3-0.

Solid pitching then ruled the game with both teams scratching out a run apiece in the fourth.  The Norse cut it to 4-2 in the top of seventh as Jake Morris connected on a home run.

The Knights got three important insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth as third baseman Chris Wiedmar belted a bases-clearing double off the fence in right center to give Bellarmine a 7-2 lead. 

Northern, seeded No. 2, got a two-run homer in the top of the ninth from Bryan Rose to cut it to 7-4, but freshman reliever Cory Thomas settled down and induced a double play ground ball off the bat of Evan McDole to end the game.

Deatherage went six and two-thirds and gave up two earned runs in picking up the victory for the Knights. The Norse's Ryan Schmidt suffered just his second loss of the season after working five and two-thirds and giving up three earned runs.

Bellarmine improves to 33-23 on the season, while NKU falls to 41-14.  

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