ROMEOVILLE, Ill.—The Bellarmine University baseball team split today's doubleheader at Lewis University to finish the 4-game weekend series 3-1 to stay in the hunt for postseason play. After dropping today's opener 4-2, the Knights exploded for 12 runs on 19 hits in the nightcap for a convincing 12-0 victory as freshman right fielder Austin Crutcher led the way going 3-for4 with five runs batted in.
With weather causing multiple cancellations around the Great Lakes Valley Conference, Bellarmine could not make up ground in the wild card race and remains a half game behind Missouri-St. Louis for the third and final spot. Bellarmine now stands at 24-22 overall and 16-14 in the GLVC, and the Flyers are 30-16, 19-13 GLVC.
By winning three of four over the Flyers, however, the Knights have put themselves in position to compete for an automatic bid by finishing third in the East Division. If Northern wins three of four against the Flyers next weekend and the Knights win three of four over Wisconsin-Parkside, then the Knights would claim the GLVC automatic bid as the East Division's No. 3 seed.
Bellarmine also is within striking distance of both Quincy and UMSL for a wild card spot.
The Knights return to action Saturday as they host Wisconsin-Parkside in a doubleheader scheduled to begin at noon.
GAME 1: LU 4, BU 2 (BOX SCORE)
Bellarmine jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead as Michael Morrissette singled to open the game and eventually came around to score on Kyle Roden's 2-out single.
The host Flyers evened the score in the bottom half of the first as a lead-off walk, a wild pitch and a sacrifice allowed Lewis to plate a run without the benefit of a base hit.
After holding the Knights scoreless in the second, Lewis jumped out to a 4-1 lead as the Flyers scored three runs on just two hits with the help of two Bellarmine errors and hit batter.
In the fifth, it was Bellarmine that benefitted from a fielding error after Knights catcher Samuel Burke led off by reaching on an error and eventually came around to score on Justin Ebernez's sacrifice bunt.
Although Bellarmine pitcher Benjamin Fuchs settled in and pitched a solid game allowing just five hits and one walk, the Knights never did get to Flyers hurler Pat Lahey as he tossed the complete game victory.
GAME 2: BU 12, LU 0 (BOX SCORE)
The Knights broke open a 2-0 game with a 6-run fifth inning, and starting pitcher Jason Sterrett came back after making a rare relief appearance yesterday to pitch five solid innings and pick up his second win in two days as the Knights cruised to the 12-0 win. Sterrett was backed up by relievers Matt Bayes, Ryan Dixon, Caleb Shelley and Cory Thomas, who all threw one inning of relief, as the five pitchers combined for the shutout.
Crutcher delivered a 2-out, 2-run double in the top of the third to get the Knights on the board, then came back in Bellarmine's big fifth inning with another 2-run double. The freshman from Lexington finished off his day with an RBI single in the sixth.
Other standout offensive performers for the Knights were Morrissette, who went 3-for-5 to finish the doubleheader 6-for-9, Eberenz, who was 3-for-4 with three runs scored, and Roden and Andy Gehr, who both knocked in two runs. All nine offensive starters collected hits on the day, and the Knights' 19 hits are the second most this season (Bellarmine banged out 21 against IU Southeast).
