LOUISVILLE, Ky. --The Bellarmine University baseball team got its first no-hitter since 1993 to salvage a split in today's doubleheader with Northern Kentucky today at Knights Field. After being overwhelmed 19-2 in the opener, Bellarmine dug in and pulled out a 1-0 victory in the 7-inning Game Two thanks to the combined no hitter by Jason Sterrett, Kyle Grana, Caleb Shelley and Phil Forbis.

The no-hitter—just the 11th in school history--is believed to be Bellarmine's first combined no-no. Sterrett, who got the start after throwing a 3-hitter in his last outing, had to deal with a number of base runners despite not allowing a hit thanks to surrendering five walks in his four innings of work.

The game's lone run came in the bottom of the fourth. Bellarmine's Braxton Graven drew a walk to lead off the inning, and after two fly-outs, he stole second and advanced to third when a ball off the bat of Brian Hockman got under the glove of Norse third baseman Brad Vanderglas. With Bellarmine's Zach Blanchard at the plate, NKU pitcher Jim Ryan threw a curve ball that didn't make it the entire 60 feet, six inches, and when catcher Brian Erie couldn't corral the pitch in the dirt, Graven scampered home with the eventual game-winning run.

In the top of the fifth, Bellarmine coach Deron Spink decided to go to the bullpen and called on pitcher Kyle Grana to make his first relief appearance on the year. The big right hander came through by retiring four of the five batters he faced. Next, Spink went to the freshman lefty Caleb Shelley to face NKU's left-handed hitting clean-up batter Bryan Rose. Again, it was the right call as Shelley induced a pop-up that catcher Kyle Roden chased down in foul territory.

In the top of the seventh, the Knights went to the team's closer, Phil Forbis, and the New Albany sophomore retired the Norse in order to collect his fifth save of the season and preserve the no hitter.

With the win, Bellarmine improved to 13-13 on the year and stayed above.500 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference at 6-5. The Norse, slip to 5-7 in conference play and 15-12 overall.

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The opening game started badly for the Knights and only got worse as the game progressed. Northern Kentucky leadoff batter Zac Asman drew a walk, and Brad Clement made Bellarmine pay with a monster home run over the 20-foot fence in left field. The Norse tacked on another run to take a 3-0 lead after a half inning.

After keeping the game within reach for the next four innings, the Norse exploded for 10 runs in the top of the sixth to blow the game wide open. Both coaches substituted liberally for the remainder of the game, and a run in each of the last two innings by the Knights prevented a shutout.

For the game, NKU totaled 19 runs and banged out 22 hits. Meanwhile the Knights' defense was helping them along by committing seven errors on the day.

Clement had the big bat in game one for the Norse, knocking in five with a homer. Graven paced the Knights at the plate going 3-for-5 with a run scored and a run batted in.

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