FLORENCE, Ala. — What started as an alarming Saturday for the Bellarmine University baseball team turned reassuring instead.
After falling 11-0 to North Alabama in the opening game of a doubleheader, the visiting Knights found themselves in an 8-1 deficit after two innings in the tail end but showed resilience in rallying for an improbable 12-10 victory.
Bellarmine (1-2) seemingly had every reason to throw in the towel by the third inning of Game 2. The Knights were defeated by a combined score of 19-1 over the three-game series' first two contests and then found themselves down by seven after two frames in the finale.
But Bellarmine regrouped to score three runs in the third and racked up another five in the fourth to take a 9-8 lead. After North Alabama tied it at 9 in the bottom half, the Knights scored three runs over the next two innings and got out of a seventh-inning jam to seal their first victory of the season.
In the second game, junior shortstop
Drew Greenwood went 3 for 4 with three runs scored, while junior left fielder
Griffin Neuer was 3 for 4 with a double and two runs scored. Senior designated hitter
Christopher Allen and sophomore third baseman
Josh Finerty both tallied two hits and two RBIs. Freshman center fielder
Bobby Brokamp chipped in two hits, and freshman first baseman
Jacob Pendred had two RBIs.
North Alabama scored once in the seventh and had the tying run on base when sophomore right hander
Zac Wiley entered from right field and recorded the save with a strikeout. Junior right-hander
Yancey Pritchett (1-0) earned the win after striking out five and allowing one run in 3.1 innings of relief.
Pendred had an RBI double in the second, and Finerty and Allen had RBI singles in the three-run third. Neuer delivered an RBI single and Allen had a sacrifice fly in the five-run fourth, and North Alabama helped the Knights by allowing three unearned runs.
After Wiley's go-ahead RBI single in the fifth gave Bellarmine a 10-9 lead, North Alabama gave up another unearned run, which turned out to be the game-winning run. Brokamp added an RBI single in the sixth.
Wiley had two of Bellarmine's five hits in the first game. North Alabama used a six-run fifth to break the game open.
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GAME 1 BOX SCORE (HTM)
GAME 2 BOX SCORE (HTM)