LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University baseball pitching staff was largely dominant Monday against Missouri-St. Louis, but one bad inning doomed the Knights in a 7-4 loss to the visiting Tritons.

Junior left-hander Michael Messier struck out 10 batters — including eight straight at one point — while senior right-hander Alex Mercer fanned four and junior right-hander Will Birch added one for the Knights (9-12). The 15 strikeouts marked the most in a game that lasted nine innings for Bellarmine this season.

However, Missouri-St. Louis (15-5) was able to overcome the slew of strikeouts by scoring five runs on four hits in the second inning and holding on with its own strong work on the mound. Kyle Wilson (1-0) earned the win after allowing four earned runs on six hits with five strikeouts in 7.1 innings pitched. Jon Shanker and Austin Simokaitis, who recorded his eighth save, combined to throw 1.2 scoreless innings of relief and together have not allowed an earned run in 18.2 frames this season.

Bellarmine's biggest highlight at the plate came when freshman third baseman Josh Finerty cranked his first collegiate home run, a two-run drive to left in the sixth that cut the Knights' deficit to 6-3. Sophomore catcher Brady Pfaadt's sacrifice fly in the eighth tightened things even further, but Shanker was able to end the frame with the tying run on second. Simokaitis retired the side in order in the ninth.

Sophomore shortstop Drew Greenwood collected two of Bellarmine's six hits. In addition to Greenwood and Finerty, sophomore left fielder Griffin Neuer, sophomore designated hitter Alex Ralph and freshman right fielder Alex Phillips had one hit apiece. Ralph had an RBI single in the fourth.

Messier struck out two batters in the first and third innings. He struck out the side in both the fourth and fifth frames, fanning eight consecutive hitters before inducing a ground out to start the sixth.

Mercer then entered and struck out four while not allowing a hit in 2.1 scoreless innings of relief. In two appearances out of the bullpen since returning from injury, Mercer has fanned seven in 3.1 frames.

Bellarmine hosts Missouri-St. Louis at 3 p.m. (ET) on Tuesday. While the Knights and Tritons are Great Lakes Valley Conference colleagues, they are in separate divisions and cross-divisional contests do not count toward the league standings.

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