ST. LOUIS—The Bellarmine University baseball team swept the Missouri-St. Louis Tritons this afternoon to move to 5-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and take sole possession of first place the East Division standings.  Bellarmine got great pitching as the Knights won a pair of low-scoring affairs, winning 2-1 in the opener before closing with a 2-0 victory.

The Knights improve to 12-7 overall while Missouri-St. Louis falls to 8-11 overall and 1-7 in league play.

Bellarmine returns to action on Tuesday, when Coach Matt Tyner leads the Knights against his former team the Butler Bears.  The single game will be played at Butler with a start time of 3:30 p.m.

GAME 1 Recap

The Knights scratched out a 2-1 win in classic pitchers' duel as Jason Sterrett picked up his second win of the season after allowing just four hits and one run in seven innings pitched. The right hander struck out seven and allowed no walks.  Justin Strohmeier worked two innings hitless relief to pick up his first save of the year.

The Tritons' Jeremy Butler was the hard luck loser throwing a complete game and surrendering just two unearned runs and scattering five base hits. 

The Knights broke into the scoring column with two runs in the fourth inning when Kal Scheler and Andy Gehr scored on a throwing error by the Triton's Charlie Mohr. 

The Tritons trimmed the lead the just one in the bottom of the fifth when leadoff hitter Nolan Craig singled and advanced to third on a sacrifice and a ground out.  He came around to score on a single by Lucas Matecki, who got himself into scoring position by stealing second.  Sterrett shut down the UMSL threat by striking out Beau Harris to end the inning.

From that point on, the only hit was a 2-out double by UMSL's by Joel Ayala in the bottom of the seventh.  Again, Sterrett closed the door on the Triton scoring opportunity by striking out the next batter.

Strohmeier started the eighth inning on the mound for the Knights, and he allowed just one baserunner, who was erased on a double play.  In the bottom of the ninth, Strohemeier again sat the Tritons down in order to pick up the save.

GAME 1 BOX SCORE

GAME 2 Recap

Bellarmine had three pitchers combine for the shutout as Kyle Grana, Matt Bayes and Cory Thomas allowed just four hits and nine strikeouts to pick up the victory for the Knights.

Bellarmine plated lone runs in both the fourth and sixth innings to provide the game's only scoring.

In the fourth, Kyle Roden got aboard on an error by the third baseman. He then stole second and was awarded third on an interference call. Andy Gehr's single to right center brought Roden in to give the Knights the 1-0 lead.

The Knights added an insurance run in the top of the sixth as Scheler doubled down the right field line to open the inning, took third on a sacrifice by Gehr, and scored on Austin Crutcher's fly ball to right.

Meanwhile, the Bellarmine pitching staff kept the Triton hitters off balance.  After Grana got out of a bases-loaded jam in the first, only two more UMSL batters reached base until the bottom of the seventh when Bayes issued a walk then surrendered a two-out single to Joe Wieczkowski. The Knights then brought Thomas out of the bullpen, and the Bellarmine closer struck out the only batter he faced to pick up the save and preserve the win for the Knights.  

GAME 2 BOX SCORE