SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A vintage pitching performance by
Eddie Mathis coupled with a thunderous display of offense launched the Bellarmine University baseball team to a record-tying 13-2 romp over Missouri S&T on Thursday at Meador Park in the opening round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.
The 11-run differential tied the program record for the most lopsided victory in the GLVC Tournament, matching the 2010 squad's 17-6 rout of Saint Joseph's. Bellarmine (34-17), the East's No. 2 seed, won its conference tournament opener for the second year in a row, this time against the Miners (26-22), the West's No. 3 seed.
Bellarmine is currently scheduled to meet the Saint Joseph's-Drury winner at 5 p.m. (ET) on Friday at U.S. Baseball Park in Ozark, Missouri.
Mathis (9-3) cruised on the mound to a complete-game victory. The sophomore left-hander's nine victories ties for the second most in a single season in program history with Willie Yates (1978), whose 10 in 1979 is the gold standard. Mathis allowed only a two-run, pinch-hit homer to Matt Reschke in the eighth and gave up six hits with seven strikeouts against one walk in 9.0 innings pitched. It was the southpaw's fifth complete game.
Bellarmine's offense sputtered a bit toward the end of the regular season, getting shut out in two of the first three games in the Wisconsin-Parkside series. However, the Knights piled up 11 runs in the finale, and they just kept churning them out against Missouri S&T in the beginning of the postseason, with the 13 runs tying their second-highest output of the year and their 18 hits tying a season best.
Bellarmine entered the GLVC Tournament on an 11-game home-run drought. That ended when junior catcher
Brady Pfaadt opened the scoring in the second inning with a two-run, opposite-field shot to left off Anthony Garza (4-4). Pfaadt's eighth home run of the season tied sophomore designated hitter
Zac Wiley for the team lead.
In the third inning, sophomore third baseman
Josh Finerty lifted his fourth homer of the season, a solo shot that boosted the advantage to 4-0. Sophomore first baseman
Jacob Pendred then led off the fourth with a solo blast of his own, marking his third round-tripper of the year.
Pendred's shot was the catalyst for a six-run frame that gave Bellarmine a 10-0 lead and essentially put the contest out of reach after only four innings. Finerty and junior second baseman
Alex Ralph both delivered two-run singles in the eruption, and junior left fielder
Griffin Neuer stroked an RBI double.
Every starter for Bellarmine notched at least one hit. Finerty went 3 for 5 with four RBIs, and Ralph was 3 for 4 with three RBIs. Wiley, Neuer, Pendred, junior shortstop
Drew Greenwood and sophomore right fielder
Alex Phillips each had two hits. Freshman center fielder
Bobby Brokamp chipped in a double.
For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow us on Twitter (@BUKnights), Instagram (BUKnights), Facebook (BUKnights) and the BUKnights mobile app available for iPhone and Android.
BOX SCORE (HTM)
