LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Great Lakes Valley Conference play started and
Eddie Mathis' masterful pitching continued for the Bellarmine University baseball team.
In a doubleheader Friday at Knights Field against GLVC rival Southern Indiana, the sophomore left-hander fired a complete game in Bellarmine's 7-2 win in the opener before the Screaming Eagles capitalized on some costly Knights mistakes in the tail end to edge them 4-3 and earn a split.
Mathis (4-2) won his fourth-straight start for Bellarmine (13-9, 1-1 GLVC), striking out six against eight hits and two walks with one earned run in 9.0 innings pitched against USI (8-10, 1-1). It was Mathis' third complete game of the season and the fifth-consecutive start in which he pitched at least 7.0 innings and allowed three earned runs or less.
Mathis received plenty of help from his offense, which generated 13 hits in the first game. Sophomore right fielder
Alex Phillips went 3 for 5 while junior left fielder
Griffin Neuer, junior second baseman
Alex Ralph, sophomore designated hitter
Zac Wiley and sophomore first baseman
Jacob Pendred registered two hits apiece. Junior catcher
Brady Pfaadt drilled a two-run homer, as Wiley and Pendred also collected two RBIs.
Wiley delivered a two-run single and Pendred an RBI single against Colin Nowak (2-3) in a three-run fourth inning. Ralph and Pendred tacked on RBI singles in the fifth, and Pfaadt launched his first homer of the season in the seventh, a two-run blast to left center. Mathis took care of the rest.
Bellarmine wasn't as sharp in the second game, costing the Knights a sweep. Bellarmine scored twice in the first on four hits as Ralph and Wiley both had RBI singles, and it could have been worse if not for an unfortunately placed line drive by Pendred that was ripped right at the first baseman and resulted in a double play.
Southern Indiana tied it at 2-2 in the fifth after a catchable fly ball dropped in and the Knights made a fielding error, as both of those Screaming Eagles scored. After taking a 3-2 lead in the sixth, USI did give back a run in the bottom half with a two-out infield error that allowed Bellarmine to knot it up.
The miscue came after center fielder Buddy Johnson made a tremendous throw to the plate on a sacrifice-fly attempt to cut down the would-be tying run. Earlier, Pendred made a spectacular play for the Knights, diving near the Bellarmine dugout to catch a foul ball on a sacrifice-bunt attempt.
However, another Bellarmine miscue opened the door for USI in the seventh. The leadoff man got on via an infield error and scored the unearned go-ahead run against senior right-hander
Will Birch (3-1) after a sacrifice fly by Nathan Kuester.
USI reliever Justin Watts (2-1) retired the Knights in order in the seventh.
Wiley was 2 for 2 in the tail end, lining a double off the left-center wall, and junior shortstop
Drew Greenwood had a pair of hits. Junior left-hander
Hunter Spencer allowed two earned runs in 6.0 innings in a no-decision.
Bellarmine will host Southern Indiana in another doubleheader starting at 10 a.m. (ET) Saturday. First pitch has been moved up two hours in hopes of completing the games before anticipated inclement weather.
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GAME 1 BOX SCORE (HTM)
GAME 2 BOX SCORE (HTM)
