LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University baseball team was one strike away from a sweep of Illinois Springfield on Friday in Great Lakes Valley Conference play, but a dramatic comeback left the Knights with a split, as they took the first game 8-2 before falling 6-5 in the tail end.

In Friday's finale, Bellarmine (22-14, 9-5 GLVC) led the Prairie Stars (20-14, 10-4) 4-2 entering the final inning. Senior right-hander Will Birch recorded two strikeouts and needed one more strike on Chris Mathieu to sew up a Knights win, but Mathieu delivered an RBI single and Ben Schanding followed with a base hit.

Sophomore right-hander Zac Wiley (1-2) entered and was 2-2 on Austin Muench before he drove a pitch over the left-field fence for a go-ahead three-run homer. Bellarmine nearly rallied in the bottom half after junior second baseman Alex Ralph laced an RBI single to cut the deficit to 6-5, and the Knights had runners on second and third with only one out. But R.D. Lutze came on to pitch and notched a strikeout and pop out to turn back Bellarmine.

In the tail end, junior shortstop Drew Greenwood went 3 for 4 with a double and RBI single. Ralph and sophomore right fielder Alex Phillips added a pair of hits.

The opener was tight until Bellarmine scored six runs in the sixth to take an 8-1 lead. Wiley and Ralph both hit hard ground balls against Ethan Howard (5-3) that the Prairie Stars couldn't field cleanly. The Knights capitalized on those errors as freshman center fielder Bobby Brokamp followed with an RBI single and junior left fielder Griffin Neuer clubbed a two-run single.

Eddie Mathis improved to 7-2 after allowing one earned run on nine hits with six strikeouts in 6.0 innings pitched. The sophomore left-hander won for the sixth-straight start and remained poised while working his way out of trouble on multiple occasions. He was helped by a great stab of a line drive by sophomore third baseman Josh Finerty, who may have saved three runs in the fifth. Finerty also had a terrific run-saving, diving stop in the second game.

Junior right-hander Yancey Pritchett pitched 2.0 scoreless innings of relief, and junior right-hander Zach Williams pitched the final inning to complete the victory. Brokamp had three of Bellarmine's seven hits in the opener, tripling along the way.

Bellarmine hosts Illinois Springfield in another doubleheader starting at noon (ET) Saturday.

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GAME 1 BOX SCORE (HTM)
GAME 2 BOX SCORE (HTM)