LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For the second straight game against Missouri-St. Louis, a disastrous inning led to a deficit that the Bellarmine University baseball team could not erase.

On Tuesday at Knights Field, the Tritons scored six runs in the second inning and held off BU's comeback bid in earning an 8-5 victory over the Knights.

The victory was similar to Monday's for UMSL, when the Tritons (16-5) scored five runs in the second frame en route to a 7-4 win over the Knights (9-13). The silver lining for Bellarmine is that while the two teams are Great Lakes Valley Conference colleagues, cross-divisional matchups do not count toward the league standings.

Bellarmine collected 11 hits on Tuesday. Senior third baseman Cole Metcalfe went 2 for 5 with two RBIs, including an RBI triple. Junior first baseman Nick Wright and sophomore second baseman Trevor Lines added two hits apiece. Five other Knights tallied one hit.

Missouri-St. Louis racked up 16 hits, but Bellarmine often avoided significant damage outside of the fateful second inning. In that frame, the Tritons picked up six runs on five hits and the Knights hurt themselves with two costly errors leading to three of the runs being unearned.

It was 7-0 before Bellarmine began chipping away. In the fourth, Metcalfe nearly smashed an opposite-field homer before settling for an RBI triple. Wright drove him in with a single.

Sophomore shortstop Drew Greenwood cut the deficit to 7-3 in the sixth with an RBI double and, after UMSL scored once in the seventh, the Knights tacked on a pair of unearned runs in the bottom half to cut it to 8-5 as the Tritons committed a costly miscue.

Junior designated hitter Michael Belliveau walked and freshman pinch hitter Josh Finerty singled to start the eighth, but the Knights were unable to capitalize. Sophomore left fielder Griffin Neuer and Wright then both singled in the ninth, but Austin Simokaitis came away unscathed in earning his ninth save.

Bellarmine senior right-handers Evan McNair and John Hakemoller combined for 3.1 scoreless innings of relief. The Knights' bullpen — which also included sophomore right-hander Yancey Pritchett and junior right-hander Griffin Caron — was effective and yielded only two runs after the second inning.

Bellarmine hosts McKendree in GLVC doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday. Both begin at noon (ET).

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