HARROGATE, Tenn. — The visiting Bellarmine University baseball team had mixed results in a pair of high-scoring affairs Tuesday at Lincoln Memorial, falling 12-8 before regrouping for a 15-11 victory in nonconference play.
Bellarmine senior center fielder
Jes Staples and senior third baseman
Cole Metcalfe both entered the program's 200-hit club. Staples has compiled 201 hits in his career and Metcalfe an even 200. The pair joined eight others on the exclusive list, meaning they've cracked the Knights' all-time top 10 hits list.
Bellarmine (14-14) piled up 25 hits over the doubleheader and needed that immense production to finish even with the Railsplitters (23-12), who also posted 25 hits. With the victory in the finale, the Knights won for the fifth time in six games.
Lincoln Memorial scored six runs in the first inning of the opener and the Knights couldn't quite catch up, but the tail end was dizzyingly back and forth. LMU led 5-1 after three innings, Bellarmine exploded for eight runs in the fourth to take a 9-5 lead and the Railsplitters countered with five runs in the fifth to tie it at 11. Undeterred, the Knights responded with four runs in the sixth and shut out Lincoln Memorial over the final two frames to earn the win.
The winning run in the wild contest actually came home on a wild pitch. Sophomore shortstop
Drew Greenwood led off the sixth with a single and, following two walks, raced home on an errant pitch. Freshman outfielder
Alex Phillips followed with a two-run single to center, and Metcalfe delivered a two-out RBI single to push the Knights' lead to four.
Griffin Neuer shifted from left field to pitcher in recording the last out of the fifth inning. In only his second appearance of the season and first in over a month, the sophomore right-hander struck out two to end the sixth and wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam to emerge unharmed in the seventh in notching his first win of the season.
In the second contest, Metcalfe was 3 for 4 with three RBIs, Phillips was 2 for 4 with three RBIs and three runs scored, and Staples was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Neuer added a 2-for-5 outing.
In the eight-run fourth, Staples had a two-run single while Metcalfe, freshman
Zac Wiley and junior catcher
Michael Belliveau all added RBI singles. Sophomore catcher
Brady Pfaadt chipped in an RBI double.
In the opener, Metcalfe established the tone for a huge day at the plate with a 2-for-4, three-RBI performance. He's now batting .396 on the season and collected multi-hit games in five straight outings while tallying three RBIs in three straight contests. In the last five games, Metcalfe hit .611 (11 for 18) and he's hit safely in 18 out of his last 21 outings.
Neuer was 3 for 4 in the initial contest and has registered four consecutive multi-hit games along with an eight-game hitting streak. Phillips was 2 for 3.
Metcalfe and Phillips both had RBI singles in Bellarmine's three-run first inning in the opener. Sophomore designated hitter
Alex Ralph had a sacrifice fly in the third, Wiley contributed an RBI single in the fourth and Metcalfe added another RBI single in the sixth, but Lincoln Memorial scored in every inning through the fifth, racking up 12 runs total.
Bellarmine will host Saint Joseph's in a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday at Knights Field. First pitch is at noon (ET) both days.
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GAME 1 BOX SCORE (HTM)GAME 2 BOX SCORE (HTM)
