Box Score EVANSVILLE, Ind.—The Bellarmine Knights baseball team won its opening game of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship Tournament this afternoon, besting Missouri-St. Louis  5-2 at the University of Southern Indiana baseball field.

The Knights' second round game (versus Lewis-Quincy winner) will be played at 11 a.m. EDT (noon EDT)  on Friday at Southern Indiana's field.

The sixth-seeded Knights wasted no time in grabbing the lead against the No. 3 seed as Bellarmine struck for two runs in the top of the first.  Michael Morrissette opened the game with a single, but was forced out at second on Jes Staples grounder to second.  Austin Crutcher then delivered a triple to drive in Staples and camer around to score on Cole Metcalfe's double.

The Tritons fought back to tie it with lone runs in the first and second despite only totaling one hit in the two frames.  Walks, wild pitches and hit batsmen were the only negative statistics for Bellarmine starter Kyle Grana, but they cost the Bellarmine right hander a pair of early runs.  A wild pitch set up the first UMSL score and bases loaded double play (after three consecutive hit batsmen) plated the second run.

The Knights took the lead for good with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth as a Crutcher double and two Triton errors led to the Knights scoring twice and taking a 4-2 lead.

Bellarmine added an insurance run in the sixth when catcher Anthony Baker led off with a single and advanced to second on a Justin Eberenz sacrifice bunt. A Morrissette single put runners at the corners, and a passed ball allowed Baker to score to make it 5-2 Knights.

The Bellarmine pitching staff, meanwhile, was silencing the Missouri-St. Louis bats with the Knights' pitchers not giving up a hit in the final five innings.

Grana, who picked up his sixth win of the season, went the opening six innings before giving way to the Bellarmine bullpen.  Freshman Kevin Herren walked the first two batters he faced in the seventh, but Evan McNair came on to induce a double play ground ball and record a strikeout as Bellarmine got out of the inning unscathed.

Bellarmine went down in order in the top of the eighth, then after a 31-minute rain delay, Bellarmine reliever Ryan Dixon took the mound and struck out the side in the bottom half of the inning.

The Knights' closer, Justin Strohmeier, came on in the ninth and recorded another 1-2-3 inning to pick up his eighth save on the season.

Offensively, the Knights were led by Morrissette, Crutcher and Baker who all recorded two hits on the day.